At Your Service
by seeyouontheice
Summary: Sacha joins Darwin for the week ... things can only get interesting
1. Chapter 1

"Once GS registrar at your service; terms include regular breaks for caffeine and sugar fixes and also plenty of time to annoy the hell outta my bestfriend, subject to availability and on loan to you for the entire week – please sign to indicate the GS registrar has been received and is not in any way damaged by the journey."

Jac rolled her eyes and swung round in her chair with her eyebrow raised and a smile she couldn't hide. "You are aware that this GS registrar must chip in when it comes to lunch and coffee runs? And that we cannot guarantee that we won't need the extra help in paying for the bar tab on Friday?"

"Yes, it was in the terms and conditions –" he fell silent when Jac, unable to stop herself, grabbed the board marker and signed his forehead. "Thanks Jac …"

"What kind of idiot sits and reads all of the 'terms and conditions'? You just tick the wee box and hope you haven't signed your house over to the Mafia …" Jonny pointed out brightly as he handed Mo the result of the CT scan for her patient. They both laughed when they saw what Jac had done to her bestfriend.

"Well said Jonny Mac well said," taking the scan and pulling a face of perplexity as she studied it, Mo turned with an appealing look to the consultant. Sighing, Jac wordlessly held out her hand for the scan. "Aw thanks Jac; you're the best."

"Shut up," Jac muttered, it was now more of her way of saying 'whatever, don't care, conversation over' than actually telling the person to shut up – unless she actually meant it of course, but it was _very_ clear when she meant it.

"There was nothing about the Mafia in these terms and conditions otherwise I'd have backed out long ago." Sacha smiled and Jac turned back to her computer, quickly minimizing the screen before Jonny or Sacha caught a glimpse of whatever it was she and Mo had been looking at. He seemed unfazed by the fact that he had Jac's signature scrawled untidily over his face.

"Yeah, but it did warn you that you'd be working with Jac, right?" Jonny grinned, dodging the board marker Jac chucked at him. "Careful; you almost got me eye out!"

"That was the idea."

"What's wrong working with Jac? Never a dull moment from what I can remember," he winked at Jac, who replied with a further roll of her eyes. "Aw don't give me that … I know you love me really."

"Shut up Levy; why don't you do something useful and get Jonny to take you round the patients? It's not time for doughnuts yet – Elliot's not even back from the university."

"Are you trying to get rid of us by any chance?"

"Was it that obvious?"

Sacha smiled, "Okay … but you owe me a juicy catch up later Naylor!" he said, pointing a finger at Jac as Jonny led him onto the ward. Jac smiled sarcastically after him before turning back to Mo and their conversation. "And I'll get you back for the pen once the opportunity arises!" he then started singing 'I Want To Break Free' by Queen, which Jonny swiftly joined in with.

"That?" she asked, "You seriously want to get on _that_?"

"I thought I'd already convinced you it was a good idea?"

"No, no … I'm just making sure we were talking about the same person that's all … well I can grudgingly admit that you'd be a hell lot better for him than Chrissie was, even if you do annoy me more than she ever could."

"I thought we'd agreed on friends; in the interest of the baby and keeping you and Jonny from falling out again."

"Your point?"

"Just saying … what's the verdict?"

"That looks to me like second stage lung cancer … aren't those the new ones we put in a few months back?"

"Yeah …" Mo sighed. "Now we have to work out if it _is_ cancer and if it came with the lungs or not … I hate this bit."

"Well have fun with that," Jac told her lightly handing the scan back as she clicked the internet page they'd been looking at back up. "I still don't see it …" she complained as Mo got to her feet and darted round the counter, she stared at the optical illusion with dislike. How they'd gotten onto this conversation, Jac had no clue, but they'd spent the better part of the morning looking at them online and figuring them out and laughing at the more ridiculous and inappropriate ones.

"Just keep looking at it – back in a tick."

"Oh I can't _wait_ …"

"This pregnancy is working wonders for your wit, dear Jacqueline."

"Go and uphold your position as the bearer of bad news; I've got a stupid meeting with the midwife to reschedule since she didn't turn up yesterday." Jac muttered, reaching for the phone, "why Thompson wants to insist on attending, I'll never know …"

"Because he's your gynaecologist and wants to make the midwife aware of the complications that could arise during labour and birth due to you having endometriosis … and because he knows you're not going to say anything to her about it." Mo told her in a tone that said they'd had this discussion countless times already that morning.

Jac childishly stuck her tongue out as she dialled the number and watched Mo make her way over to the bed Jonny and Sacha happened to have reached at that moment. Knowing full well that Jac was watching her, and that poor Jonny had no clue, Mo decided to wait with the flirting until she'd given her best friend a head's up and gotten a clear approval from Jac.

The patient, an elderly Mrs Rodgers, took the news calmly and surprised Mo by sheading virtually no tears and insisting, as she always did, on talking to Mo about Jac. Mrs Rodgers had spotted immediately upon clapping eyed on her that Jac was pregnant and how far along she was, but she had agreed to keep her knowing quiet since only Mo, Jac, Jonny and Mr T knew. For some reason Jac didn't want to make it official until she'd told both Sacha and Elliot herself … it was just _getting _her to tell them that was the problem.

Still she was only just three months, and not really showing just yet – or at least she wasn't when she had her scrubs on and came in to work in lose fitting tops; Mo had already endured on afternoon when the red haired surgeon had complained about how her clothes were starting not to fit properly. Annoyed, Mo had enlisted Jonny's help and dragged Jac shopping for maternity wear the next available free weekend – Jonny had come purely as the taxi driver and as the man in charge of the money (or so he thought). Mo had watched with a smug grin as her plan came into effect when the pair came across the baby clothing and other such items.

"I do hope the dearie isn't going to be left to do this alone – although I admire her if she does – because she seems the type that _needs_ someone, do you follow me?"

"Yes, I follow you … and believe me Mrs Rodgers; I'm doing everything I can to make sure that she isn't left to cope alone. Annoyingly she and Jonny are refusing to co operate and realise that they love each other so I think my plan is working, and then everything falls apart again when they don't seize the bloody moment!"

"Seems like you need to recruit some help dearie … how about him?" she pointed towards Sacha, who busy trying to wipe the marker pen off his forehead at the nurses' station while Jac and Jonny sat laughing at him. "They _look_ right together, don't they? And I'll bet they'll make wonderful parents …" Mrs Rodgers sighed wistfully.

"Do you want me to call your grandson now?" Mo asked, hoping that the news of possible cancer had triggered some sense into the old woman. She nodded and Mo smiled, patted her on the hand, and headed back to where her friends sat doing very little since there was virtually nothing that needed doing right then.


	2. Chapter 2

"You've got to be joking? … No I _can't_ do one o'clock because I'm doing an arterial valve replacement with GS complications involving the removal of an appendicitis and the spleen … _no, _someone else can't do it for me … well what's the point of just him being there – you can't scan _him _to check how the baby's doing, can you? … Six? No I – _we_ – can do six … okay fine … _thank you!_" she slammed the phone down with relief and groaned. "Cretins … what point of 'I am busy then' don't they understand?"

"Are you expecting an answer or do you know that there's no one here?"

Jac swung round on her chair, "you're here," she pointed out.

"Technically I'm in theatre … but I didn't fancy it so I persuaded that new nurse to scrub in instead of me."

"Why am I not surprised? Got that meeting with the midwife – and Thompson – at six, okay?"

Jonny perched on the edge of the counter, crossed his arms and nodded. "Fine, and even if it wasn't you'd make me change my plans so it was." Jac turned back to her computer, and continued with the task of typing up the notes from Mrs Rodgers' file since she knew no one else was going to do it. "So what's gonna happen at this meeting then? I mean, I'm kinda new to all this … babies and stuff," he shifted uncomfortably as Jac swung round on her chair to face him.

"That makes two of us Jonny," she pointed out and Jonny sighed.

"Yeah, sorry … its just – hard to get me head round it. I mean … there's a – a baby actually _growing _inside ya?" he pointed to her belly and watched as Jac, seemingly instinctively and without realising it, wrapped her arms around her stomach, round their as yet unborn child.

"And you immediately think it's real for me do you? That I've got used to the idea of someone growing inside me and that in six months, we're gonna be parents?" Jac asked annoyance in her voice.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Jonny said hurriedly. "Jeeze relax a wee bit will you? I'm not saying I expect ya to answer all me questions … hey," he stopped her chair as she made to swing back round to her computer, "you're gonna be great; okay? This baby," he slid off his perch and placed both hands over the small bump, "is going to be the person you love most in the world; you'll see."

"You honestly think so? You really think that I'll make a good mother? You think that I won't do to our baby exactly what my mum did to me?"

"Jac, I know you … and you're gonna surprise us all – even yourself – when the time comes." He kissed her cheek in a friendly fashion before straightening up and claiming the other empty chair just as Mo and Sacha returned from the caffeine run.

"One black coffee with extra coffee; one coffee ruined by milk, and one tea with no sugar and a splash of the white stuff." They took the drinks with a word of thanks and Jac smirked as Mo ruthlessly kicked her bestfriend out of the chair.

"So, what you chattin' about? Anything juicy?"

"Must it always be gossip with you Maureen? Honestly, you're the worse I've ever met." Jac asked, sipping her tea and remembering how Sacha insisted on always squeezing the teabag which explained why she didn't like it.

"What other method is there to waste away a shite and dull day at work?"

"She has a point," Sacha said, joining Jonny by sitting on the counter and digging into the box of doughnuts that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Levy, you're on my side, not hers; okay? You're _my_ bestfriend not hers, comprendais?" he grinned and offered her the box, she grudgingly accepted one because she knew he wouldn't let off until she had and proceeded to pick at it before giving up and handing it over to the human waste bin that was Jonny. He almost snatched the half-eaten piece of confectionary out of her hand, earning himself a shake of the head from Jac.

"Do I smell the sweet scent of doughnuts?"

"Back from the company of ratty med students thinking they know all are you Elliot?" Jac asked lightly as he bumbled over, immediately creating a mess of the counter with his jumbled up pile of notes.

"You were a student once too Jac, don't forget – and I should imagine you were worse of the lot." Elliot told her wisely, taking two doughnuts and eating one whole.

"Charming," Jac stated, "because that's really promoting a healthy and good lifestyle to our patients."

"You're in such a fine mood recently Jac; any particular reasons for it?"

Mo, Jonny and Jac exchanged a look – or rather, Mo and Jonny gave Jac a look that said she needed to tell him today. She replied by sticking her tongue out at the pair. They laughed at her while Sacha and Elliot gave the three of them a look of confusion.

"You two shut up and piss off for a bit;" turning to her bestfriend and her boss, Jac watched as Mo and Jonny decided to conduct a ward round. "I need to tell you something."

"Something that they know but we don't?" Sacha quickly took the empty chair and ran a hand over his stubbly head. Jac remembered the conversation they'd had while she'd done the deed that made it easier for him to support his daughter through her cancer.

"Yeah …" she took in their curious looks and decided that it'd be quite funny if she just came out and said it. "I'm pregnant."

Elliot's elbow slipped off the desk and knocked his coffee all over the floor – breaking about seven health and safety rules. "What?" he asked in a weak voice, "no, no! Not hormones and Jac!"

"How far along are you?" Sacha asked with a great big foolish grin on his face, ignoring Elliot's stutters.

"About twelve weeks – Jonny and I are going for the scan or whatever later."

"Jonny?"

"You usually take the father along with you for these things, right?"

"Jonny's the dad?"

"Who else would it be Sacha, _really_?" he grinned some more and pulled her to her feet so that he could sweep her up into one of his infamous Sacha Hugs that lifted her off her feet. "Urgh! Lemme down you big oaf!"

"Not until you've hugged me back!" he told her, laughing.

"Fine!" Jac relented and hugged him back – his reaction was the first of its kind and she was greatful he was so immediately supportive. Sacha set her down on her feet as Jonny and Mo arrived back at the nurses' station, evidently bored of their impromptu ward round. Jonny wasn't quick enough in avoiding Sacha's hug of congratulations.


	3. Chapter 3

"Anyone fancy an Italian?"

"Why?"

"Well I do and I don't really fancy going on my own and there's two for one tonight … or are you off the fine cuisine of the Italians now that you're pregnant and all that?"

"You're paying," Jac told him.

"Excellent; Elliot? Mo? Jonny?" they all agreed and Sacha clapped his hands together smiling. "Well I'll pick Daniel up from the cresh and we can get going."

"Jonny and I have got the ultrasound in ten minutes, so you'll have to wait until we're done."

"Fair dos … it's your first appointment so we'll allow you half an hour including the time it'll take to get changed and walk to the main entrance to meet us."

"Whatever, come along Maconie; leave these three to peruse the menu online uninterrupted." He grinned at her comment and followed her into the lift just as the doors shut. "I guess I have to tell Hanssen tomorrow," she muttered.

"Do you want me to?"

"Because that won't be awkward at all, 'ah Henrik just to let you know, Jac and I fucked the night Tara died and now she's pregnant. Have a nice day'." she did a pretty good accent as she mimicked his voice and he smiled at her as the doors pinged open.

"I think we'd get the sack if either of us announced it that way."

"Most likely," she agreed, letting him take the lead as they walked along the corridor towards the maternity unit. "Last time I was down here I had a rather nice argument with the midwife in charge."

"And why doesn't that surprise me?"

"She was being unhelpful and I was left to cope with your mate in the third stage of child birth and no pain relief, alone!"

"Can we agree now that Mo will be the one whose hands you crush? That way you can pay her back and I won't be in danger of dropping our wee baby."

"Wimp … erm rescheduled appointment for – now actually – with Mr Thompson and one of your midwives." Jac said to the girl behind the desk.

"Name?"

"Jacqueline Naylor." She kicked Jonny in the shin to warn him that making any kind of comment about her full name would result in the loss of more than just his pride. He got the hint and bit his lip to stop himself smirking.

"That's fine, I'll let them know you're here; please take a seat I won't be long." She indicated a row of plastic seats lined up against the wall and Jac rolled her eyes before doing as she was told.

"So much for 'please be prompt'" Jonny muttered, referring to the letter that had told them the date and time for the original appointment. Jac silently agreed and resorted to looking round the waiting area at the others. "What d'you think their kid will be like," he muttered into her ear, nodding towards a rather large bloke and a stick thin woman with a nose the size of a horse and a stomach three times the size of bicycle wheel.

"That's just harsh," Jac replied just in the same conspiracy tones before relenting, "let's just say I'm glad I'm not her."

"What, don't think you could push that monster out do you?"

"You know these childbirth jokes aren't helping me Jonny; in fact they're just making me dread the day even more – which also means the longer it'll take for you to regain the use of your fingers, so if I were you, I'd shut up!" Jac was spared what she sure would've been a witty and highly inappropriate reply by the girl behind the desk returning and calling them over. "Well, here we go," Jac said, suddenly nervous.

Jonny, sensing her reluctance now that the moment had arrived, took her hand firmly in his and pulled her to her feet and then followed the girl's directions to the midwife's office. "After you," he said, holding the door open for her and flashing a comforting smile at her.

Glad she had him with her, Jac entered the office and supressed a groan; the midwife she'd argued with when Mo was in labour was going to be _her_ midwife. Recognition spread over her face and somehow Jac knew that requesting someone different wouldn't rid her of the midwife. She and Thompson sat opposite two empty chairs, clearly just having finished discussing her.

Jac sat down beside Jonny and waited patiently for them to begin. "Well take your time, not like there's something better we could be doing or anything." Jonny struggled to contain his grin as the midwife – whose name Jac seemed to not remember – gave him a look that dared him to laugh at Jac's comment.

"Right well … Ms Naylor I've erm, well I've just – erm, finished letting Ms Smith know about your – erm …"

"About the endometriosis?" Jac finished for him, not really wanting to waste time waiting for him to spit his words out. "Yeah … and that means the chances of me miscarrying have almost doubled and that surgery will most likely be the safer option but we can discuss that nearer the time, right?"

She found herself the centre of some unwanted attention so rolling her eyes Jac gestured for them to speak. The midwife gave Jac a look that said 'I am the expert here, not you'. "Right well since you're aware of the added risks then I suppose all I need to say is no alcohol and no driving after twenty-four weeks and –"

"What about her bike?" Jac glared at Jonny, "She rides a motorbike," he told the midwife, ignoring Jac.

"Well I'd advise you don't use it from here onwards." She said with a look of disapproval upon hearing about Jac's preferred method of transport. "And due to the fact that you have endometriosis I would like regular check-ups every six weeks, just to be on the safe side." Jac nodded bored while Jonny shifted in the uncomfortable seat, probably wondering why they needed him there in the first place. "Now … I take it you are the father?" the midwife said to Jonny.

"No he's just some bloke I dragged along for a laugh …"

"Yes," Jonny told her, now grinning openly at Jac, "but we're not … together or – um, anything."

"I see … well if you'd like to hop up on here, and we'll see how baby is doing." Rolling her eyes, Jac climbed onto the bed and lifted up her top as the midwife prepared to do the ultrasound. "Now, I don't need to warn you that this'll be cold, do I?" Jac threw her a look that told her to get on with it and let her head fall back against the pillow.

Jonny and Mr T stood awkwardly in the background until they were called for while the midwife started the scan. After a few moments of silence she muttered her satisfaction that everything was going according to plan, and then tilted the screen round so that Jac could see it before beckoning Jonny over. Jac didn't realise that she'd sought his hand until he'd taken hers between both of his; there was a bemused grin on his face and Jac found she was enjoying watching his reaction as much as she enjoyed watching the screen.


	4. Chapter 4

Neither said much as they made their way back to Darwin so they could change out of their scrubs and collect their things. However Jac realised when they were in the lift that Jonny was still holding her hand – or was she the one still holding his? They got changed in the same contemplative silence and grabbed their things and hurried to the main entrance before Mo and Sacha started calling them to demand to know where they were.

"Took your time!" Mo yelled across the entrance as Jac and Jonny were jostled out of the lift by a rush of student nurses not wanting to get caught by their superiors sneaking out early. Jac rolled her eyes as Jonny, a stupid grin across his face, went to tell them what it was like seeing the product of his efforts on a screen. Jac however, was waylaid by Serena Campbell.

She pulled Jac to one side and rather bluntly asked why she had spotted the consultant walking hand in hand out of maternity with Jonny Maconie. "Ah … yeah, about that …"

"You're pregnant?"

"Yeah … got it in one." Jac answered slowly watching with narrowed eyes as Mo seized Jonny's copy of the ultrasound and then stepped up close to Sacha to study it with him – a bit _too_ close to Sacha, although Jonny and Elliot didn't notice. "Look I'd love to stay and chat, but Ms Effanga appears to be trying to chat up my bestfriend … and failing miserably because he's an emotional incompetent in those sorts of situations; to the point where he doesn't even notice it."

"Ah … well I'll take this as you're official announcement and thank you for informing me – how far are you, three months?" Jac nodded, "well I'll put it on file. We'll have a little chat about maternity leave and such another time … oh and Jac? Congratulations." Jac smiled and thanked her before joining the others.

"Are we going or what?" she asked brightly, deliberately walking between Sacha and Mo however she didn't anticipate the three year old boy who launched himself at her and subsequently attached himself firmly to her legs. "Hello Daniel," she sighed wearily.

"Auntie Jac!" the boy looked up at her with Sacha's smile and Jac found it hard not to give in and pick him up.

"Why don't you go and annoy Mo for me? Huh?" she asked him, crouching down to his level, "and if you do it well enough, she might even persuade your dad to let you have pudding." His eyes lit up and he released Jac and instead seized hold of Mo. She glanced at Jac and Jac dared her to argue; getting to her feet, Jac whispered into her ear so that no one else could hear, "If you want Sacha, you'll have to endure Daniel."

Before Mo could respond, Jac had walked off with Jonny and Sacha since Elliot had decided to bail on them and go to the aid of a cardiac emergency on Keller. Wondering what the hell she was gonna do now, but knowing that this was Jac's way of saying 'go for it' meaning that she couldn't back out; Mo gingerly picked up the little boy and followed the others as they left the building.

All through the taxi ride, and while they waited for their table, Mo forced to listen to the little boy's endless chatter while Jac, Jonny and Sacha left her out of the conversation they were having – she couldn't be sure, but it sounded something to do with rebellious antics achieved whilst at university and most definitely a conversation Mo wanted in on. To her slight annoyance, Sacha seemed happy to yield to Daniel's demand of sitting next to Mo and when he and Jonny got up to get the drinks, she turned to complain at once to Jac.

She held up her hand to silence her while she listened intently to the boy who claimed she was his auntie. After a second, she pulled out her phone and to Mo's amazement, gave it up to the boy, "yes?" she asked Mo.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping," she stated calmly as Jonny returned with a try full of drinks and no Sacha.

"Helping with what? Oh and Sacha's gone to the bathroom," he added.

"She wants to get her leg over my best friend." Jac said in a bored voice, taking a menu off Jonny and opening it. "Which is why she's on Daniel watching duty; Sacha's immune to flirting so if she wants to get his attention she's going to have to be a lot smarter than the cheesy chat up lines that would work on any other bloke."

Jonny blinked, "well I didn't see that one coming … good for you Mo!"

She gave the pair of them a glare as Sacha reappeared and sat down in the remaining empty seat. Jonny mimicked zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key – which Daniel found hilariously funny – and Jac hid her smirk behind her menu. Now that they were all sitting down, and Daniel was occupied by means of Jac's phone and the many games Mo was sure Jonny had installed when they whenever he'd gotten the chance in the past, Mo found that they were once again involving her in their conversations.

It was amusing watching Jac and Jonny, both were clearly slightly over excited having just seen the baby for the first time. A fact that was reinforced by the blotchy picture lying in the space between their plates; Mo was almost certain that Sacha too, was seeing that which they obviously refused to because every now and then he'd catch her eye and give her a knowing look.

When the time came to get the second load of drinks in so that they would actually have one during their meal, Jac became rather annoyed when Jonny told her she wasn't getting another glass of wine. Since their argument threatened to draw attention to them and several people were already glancing round at them, Sacha quickly resolved it by suggesting that they all part took in the 'no alcohol' rule for the rest of the evening. Grudgingly Jac accepted the terms before heading to the ladies bathroom and taking Daniel with her, leaving Mo and Sacha at the table alone.

Mo briefly wondered if Jac and Jonny had engineered this, but she just shook it off as coincidence. "So, how long have you know about Jac being pregnant?"

"About an hour, maybe two, longer than she has … there were little hints all day and I wondered if she was and it wasn't until Mr T called and she went utterly speechless that I knew I was correct."

Sacha laughed, "What did you say?"

"I told her that her bum has changed – although Jonny says it hasn't … well I suppose he's the expert – and that I knew she was pregnant. She was too shocked to reply!" they chuckled and Jonny sat back down with a try of non-alcoholic beverages, unless he'd spiked theirs and left Jac's untouched, Mo wouldn't put it past him to have. Jac returned with a hyperactive Daniel just as their food arrived. Throughout the meal, Mo watched in awe as she and Jonny were exposed to the full extent of the friendship between Jac and Sacha.

When the time came to decide on puddings or not, as Jac had told him to, Daniel turned to Mo and bugged her until she'd persuaded Sacha to relent and treat him. For some reason, Jac and Jonny made their excuses and got up to leave. Mo narrowed her eyes at them and wondered whose idea it was and vowed to get them in the morning as Jac pried her phone off Daniel by distracting him with the desert menu. Waving goodnight cheerfully, and looking to all the world as like a couple who'd been married at least a year, maybe two, they left.

"So now that Jac's not here, another drink?" Sacha asked smiling. Maybe Jac's tactics had worked after all.

"Sure, why not?"


	5. Chapter 5

"So, how did the date go last night?"

"What date?"

"Were you or were you not sitting alone at a table with a guy and drinking wine or some other form of alcohol?"

"Yes but –"

"Then it was a date."

"What happened to Daniel?" Jonny asked, swinging round on the chair he'd gotten to before Jac had.

"Chrissie's dad came and picked him up not long after you two buggered off …" Mo reached for the bottle of water which Jac cruelly denied her. "No please … my head!"

"Tell us what happened _and then_ I'll let you have this."

"Ask Sacha."

"We already have," Jonny told her brightly, "we just want to hear your side too so that we can fit together all the bits you will probably miss out."

"Why don't you two bugger off to the store room and create a little sibling for junior? Can't you see I'm dying here?"

"Look we're not gonna let you go until you've told us; we basically know what happened and we just wanna here your take on events," Jonny pleaded, pulling his 'please tell me' face.

"Urgh you two!" she paused, "well Daniel chose the most expensive pudding there was and made a complete mess of himself although I think he enjoyed it … then – um …" Mo buried her face in her hands as she tried to stem her headache and put an order on last night's events. She missed the smug look that Jac and Jonny shared. "Well then Chrissie's dad called … oh what's his name? – um oh um …"

"Mark," Jac said helpfully.

"Yeah Mark! Any way … he called so Sacha took Daniel outside to him and then – oh we got a bottle of wine when Daniel got his pudding – and then er …"

"Spit it out," Jac said irritably, "oh skip dinner; we know you talked and then got a taxi and then he invited himself in. Then what?"

"Oh erm …" Mo hesitated, wondering how much Sacha had revealed – and then remembering how terrible a liar he was and that Jac Naylor knew him better than anyone. "Well we er … talked a bit and then erm – we … er went to bed."

"In the same bed?"

Mo threw Jonny a look, "yeah in the same bed."

"And?" he prompted without meeting her gaze while Jac bit her lip to keep her face straight.

"I can't remember," she said through gritted teeth. This proved too much for the pair of them and they burst into a fit of laughter. "Oi it's not funny!"

"Yes it is." Jonny told her, "Ah you wee idiot! Why'd ya drink so much?"

"What makes it better," Jac said through gasps of breath, "is that _he_ can't remember too!" she laughed into Jonny's shoulder while he sniggered into her hair and Mo got to her feet, snatched the bottle of water, and went to find some painkillers leaving the laughing duo to explain to Hanssen why they were in such a state.

Digging out a packet of emergency painkillers from the depths of her locker for emergencies such as this, Mo gulped down two capsules and was about to put them back when the door opened and Sacha walked in, his trainers covered in puke. She was grateful she'd taken the time while they'd sat in her car in the traffic jam to convince him that telling Jac and Jonny that they were 'too drunk to remember' was a good idea. It was all part of her master plan to get the two together before the baby came and recruiting Sacha had brought the added benefit of knowing the mind of Jac Naylor all the better.

"Did they buy it?"

"Who'd you think was responsible for that laughing fit?"

He grinned, "I can't honestly believe they brought it!"

"They brought it because it's believable Sacha." Mo told him, smiling. "How's your head?"

"Don't ask – I think it's trying to murder me or something." She handed him the painkillers and the bottle of water. "Thanks …" he sank down onto the bench and pulled off his puke covered trainers with distaste. "Remind me why we do this job again?"

"I ask myself that regularly … you do realise that they're gonna find out."

"Find out what? That we …"

"Slept together … yeah that." Mo fiddled with the door of her locker and Sacha shrugged. "You're not bothered?"

"It gives them something else to do together," he pointed out and she grinned.

"Why are they being so effing stubborn about it?"

"Because they can't see it? Or maybe they're doing it to annoy us!" Mo looked up.

"I wouldn't put it past them!" she muttered.

"Neither would I – especially Jac …" he thought for a moment, "we should try and catch them out."

"We should …" Mo looked at Sacha and he looked at her, "you're brilliant!" she told him warmly.

"I learnt from Jac Naylor herself … she can't outsmart me!"

"Excellent!" Mo clapped her hands together as Sacha pulled on his spare trainers and made to leave the room. "Where are you going?" Mo asked, and he turned with a small amount of confusion on his face which disappeared when Mo closed the distance between them and kissed him soundly on the lips.

Leaving the locker room through the two separate doors, Mo came face to face with Jonny. "What's that look for? Did you and Jac get told off by Hanssen?"

"Nope, he actually came to arrange a time to talk about the baby and maternity leave and stuff."

"How does he know?"

Jonny shrugged carelessly, "oh it's nothing; Jac told Serena before we left yesterday and so it's basically official now … the entire hospital probably knows by now." He grinned at her and she just walked off, annoyed that she was the last one to find out 'officially'. "But you still have the fact that you knew before Jac did!" Jonny yelled after her, knowing full well why she was annoyed.

"Get on with whatever it is you're meant to be doing Jonny before I make you clean up the puke from Sacha's patient." It was no idle threat and Mo knew that Jonny was just dying to know if and how things had changed between her and Jac's best friend. She could see the irony and it amused her now she came to think of it; Jonny, her bestfriend, was in love with Jac, who was Sacha's bestfriend who was – well they hadn't got to defining it yet; it had only been on night – with her, Mo.

"Ah Ms Effanga, I was wondering … would you assist Ms Naylor and Mr Levy in theatre at one? I've got to go to St James' for an emergency consult and I have a feeling it will take some time." He wanted her to be locked in a room for about two hours with Jac and Jonny and Sacha and endure the questions and subtle digs that were bound to be thrown at her and Sacha for 'being too drunk' last night.

"Sure, no problem." Well Mo had a few of her own to throw back, namely; why did they leave _together_ so soon?


	6. Chapter 6

Mo and Sacha watched the pair leave theatre and exchanged a look, "definitely hiding something," he confirmed and Mo nodded.

"Ooohhh yes they are … 'Nothing happened', do they think we're stupid? C'mon, snooping time." Mo dragged him down the corridor after their bestfriends and back onto Darwin. They very nearly ran straight into Jac and Jonny who'd come to a halt just outside the double doors that led to the ward.

"Well isn't this cosy?" Jac said sarcastically as Mo and Sacha failed to duck out of sight before Jac spotted them. Jonny glanced over his shoulder with his arms folded across his chest and let a smug little smirk spread across his face. Neither Jac nor Jonny said anything as they waited, somewhat impatiently, for their bestfriends to disappear onto the ward.

Realising that Sacha and Mo weren't about to leave them be anytime soon, Jonny turned to Jac. "Fancy a walk? We're due a break as it is." She nodded, and then rolled her eyes as Sacha jumped to suggest he and Mo joined them – subtlety was _not_ one of his strong points. "Actually don't you two need to keep an eye on the ward? With Elliot at St James' … we'll bring you up a coffee, don't worry." He winked cheekily at them, probably just to get their over active minds something else to take in the complete wrong direction, and gestured grandly at Jac to led the way towards the lift at the other end of the corridor.

The sound of the door opening and then slamming shut told Jac that she and Jonny weren't exactly flavour of the month right then. Deciding on the stairs rather than the lift – mainly because too many people had become stuck in them in the middle of labour – Jac continued as if they hadn't been interrupted. "What part of 'nothing happened' is difficult to comprehend?" she asked Jonny and he shrugged.

"The bit which means that nothing did actually happen?" he suggested and Jac rolled her eyes in agreement. "But they're the ones who aren't being straight with us!"

"What do you mean?" Jac shot at him as they emerged on the ground floor and headed out into the warm sunshine and sat down on the picnic bench on the green just in front of the main entrance, glad that no one was paying them any attention.

"What? You seriously think they just _slept_ in the same bed? I know for a fact that Mo has a spare room _and_ a perfectly comfortable sofa."

"We _just slept_ in the same bed last night," she pointed out.

"Ah, but we weren't drunk." He countered and Jac inclined her head, finding that she was coming round to his way of thinking.

"Yeah, but Sacha's a shit liar."

"But Mo knows how to make it convincing … trust me; I've seen her do it plenty of times to Elliot 'have you seen my doughnuts anywhere?' 'What doughnuts? You never told me you had doughnuts!'" Jac smiled at his impressions.

"Okay, so we're agreed; something did actually happen between them last night … now what?" but she had already guessed what he was thinking. "You want to catch them out, don't you?"

"Hay, you suggested the wee plan; I'm just saying it's a good one."

"Fine! Get me a cup of tea and I'll work out how we're gonna do this," he grinned and did as she asked, returning five minutes later with two steaming paper cups and a sandwich under his arm. "Thank you … what is that? Because if it's egg or tuna again then I _will_ throw up on you!" she warned and he shook his head tolerantly.

"You've already thrown up today! I seem to recall waking up to the lovely sound of you retching all over your bathroom floor!"

"So?" Jac looked up at him, "and thank you, for – well you didn't have to clean it all up." He smiled at her to say he didn't mind and Jac found she was smiling too.

"It's only a BLT," he assured her, offering her the second sandwich. "You had no breakfast!" Taking it because she knew he'd only nag if she didn't, Jac picked out the tomatoes before taking a small bite out of it while Jonny shoved about half of it into his gob at once. "So, worked out our plan of action yet?" he asked through his mouthful of food.

"Yeah, teach you proper table manners …"

Swallowing his mouthful Jonny grinned, "what's wrong with me wee manners? They come all the way from Scotland they do!"

"Which explains it …" but she found she was smiling at him, rather than telling him off. "Okay, I have no idea how we're going to catch them at it, _but …_" she took a sip of her tea – which Jonny had made perfectly unlike Sacha – and then gave up the half-eaten sandwich to Jonny. "They're so convinced that something happened between us last night that they're determined to catch us out. _So,_" she stopped Jonny from interrupting and continued, "they're bound to slip up sooner or later … we just have to keep them to distracted to remember that they're trying to hid it from us."

"You're a genius!"

"I know," Jac smiled.

"What'd ya think they did?" his mind evidently thinking the worst due to the rather wicked grin on his face.

"I'm _not_ having that conversation Jonny!" she warned him.

"Aw c'mon," he said playfully, "you know you want too!"

"Yes because I really want to sit here discussing the sex life of Sacha Levy and Mo Effanga and what they may or may not have gotten up to last night …"

"What's this?" Michael demanded as he and Malick sat down either side of Jonny while Harry Tressler took the seat beside Jac. "Sacha and Mo? Well I didn't see that one coming!"

"Good on them," Malick said as he opened up his coffee to add sugar and milk.

"Okay, gossip away; but you absolutely did not hear it from us!"

"Where else would they have heard it from Jonny?" Jac pointed out exasperatedly while at the same time ignoring Harry's attempts to flirt. "I mean it's not as if they saw them sharing the bottle of wine or as if they watched Sacha invite himself into her flat now, is it?"

As she'd intended it to, the new information set Michael, Malick and Harry off with the grins and the nudges and the winks. Jonny got to his feet and dragged Jac to hers with the excuse of needing to get back up to Darwin but in reality he didn't want to risk the contents of Jac's stomach being emptied across the bench once Harry opened his egg and tuna sandwich.

"Oi! Naylor! When's the kid due?" Michael yelled after them once he'd realised he missed his chance to tease her about it. Jac just turned on her heel and stuck her middle finger up at him before Jonny placed a hand on her back and guided her back inside.

Taking the lift this time with the two cups of coffee for Mo and Sacha, they were annoyed to be forced out of it because a patient needed urgent transferral to a different ward. "Thanks for letting me stay," Jonny said as they climbed the stairs.

She shrugged. "Can't have the father of my child sleeping on a street corner now, can I? Going to actually _open_ your post in the future Maconie?"

"Well technically I had opened it, I just …"

"Hadn't read it." Jac finished.

"Yeah … listen I'll start looking for some place new later and … well – you don't have to put up with me if you don't want to …"

Jac stopped and turned to face him with an amused look, "you got thrown out of your flat because you didn't read your eviction notice. You can stay as long as you want to, okay?"

"You mean it?" she rolled her eyes. "Can I stay forever?" Jac paused.

"We'll see."

"Is that a yes?"

Continuing up the stairs without him, Jac called back down to him; "Shut up Jonny."

"I'm taking that as a yes!" He yelled after her and Jac bit her lip to stop from smiling.


	7. Chapter 7

"Have you told Mo yet?"

"About what?"

Jonny liked to think he could pretend he didn't know what Jac was on about, but the reality was he knew exactly what she meant. "I suppose I ought to before she gets the wrong end of the stick …" he sighed and rested his head against the lockers. "One conversation I am not looking forwards too … ah well best get it over with."

Leaving Jac to get changed he left the room on a hunt to find and locate his bestfriend so that he could tell her that, for the time being at least – and possibly forever – he was living with Jac. Not in the slightest bit surprised, he found Mo less than five feet away from Sacha and in the midst of what only could be described as flirting. He lingered in the door way of the staff room, with his arms folded across his chest wondering how long it would take for them to notice him.

Mo faltered in the middle of her sentence and she glared at Jonny while he stood there with a knowing look plastered all over his face. "How long have you been there?" she demanded and Sacha looked over his shoulder to see who she was talking to.

Jonny shrugged, "long enough. I need to tell you something – or explain something to you." Mo's look turned from one of annoyance to nosey curiosity in a blink of an eye.

"Fire away," she told him, making herself comfortable on one of the chairs round the small table.

"One condition," he held back and Mo gave him a look that dared him to name the condition. "Tell me what happened last night between you two – and no lies."

"Depends … will you run off to tell Jac?"

"That's neither here nor there," Jonny countered as Mo glanced at Sacha as he crept out of the room, probably looking for Jac to annoy. "So; you tell me and I'll tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Why Jac and I left together."

"So something _did_ happen!"

"No, nothing happened, not in that sense anyway." Jonny was thoroughly enjoying himself and watched as his friend struggled to come to a decision.

"Fine, but this stays between us alright; best mates only? Understand?" Jonny nodded and waited for Mo to relent and tell him what he'd already worked out anyway. "Yeah we slept together last night."

"I knew it!" Jonny almost shouted, and Mo quickly told him to shut up. "So, was it just a one night thing or more than that?"

"Well we're just taking things as they come alright; but I think – hope – it's more. Anyway enough of me; spill Jonny Mac." Mo's tone left him no room for manoeuvring so he just told her the facts and hoped she wouldn't take it the wrong way – he and Jac were just friends. "So how long did she say you could stay for again?"

"As long as I want to, why?"

"No reason," she said in a tone that told Jonny there _was_ a reason, but he wasn't going to know it just yet. She started quizzing him on nearly every insignificant part of last night and Jonny quickly lost interest since he had no clue what she wanted from him or what she wanted him to say. When, eventually, Mo had decided that they'd exhausted their conversation she let him go and he headed gratefully to the door, still in the dark over why she'd insisted on knowing all the little things like how Jac had yelled at his landlord until he'd let Jonny into the flat to get some things and made arrangements to put the rest of his stuff into storage.

Backing away from the door, Sacha quickly dived into the locker room before it opened and revealed him to have been eavesdropping. He found Jac staring into the mirror without her scrub top on, examining how her stomach was starting to bulge and betray her condition – not that it was a secret anymore – as the child within it continued to grow. There was a look of wonder upon her face and Sacha found that it made him happy to know that, finally, something _good_ was happening to her, for her, because of her.

"Didn't realise you were getting so big," he told her to announce his presence and her eyes flickered up, watching him in the mirror.

"I'm twelve weeks Sacha," she pointed out. "That's three months."

"And there was me thinking you'd been stealing all Elliot's doughnuts!"

"Actually that's Mo – according to Jonny anyway."

"Sure about that? How did your 'walk' go earlier?" he asked.

"Oh behave – you've been spending too much time with Michael – we just sat and talked and may have accidently let Malick, Harry and Michael overhear us talking about dinner last night …"

"You what? Oh Jac!"

"Sorry! I couldn't help it; Tressler was trying to flirt and I needed something that would take his mind off getting me into bed."

"And that something was my love life was it?"

"Hay, you'd have no love life if it wasn't for me; don't forget that Levy!"

He nodded and started to get changed as Jac turned her back on the mirror and picked up her blouse. "So, I hear Jonny's moved in."

"I thought he was just telling Mo?"

"He did – I just … happened to overhear."

"You mean you listened at the door!" Jac corrected, not really cross with him.

"Where's he sleeping? On the sofa? Mo didn't ask him and he didn't say …" then it dawned on him. Turning to Jac with questions bubbling from his mouth and the conclusion of things written clearly over his face, he demanded she explained.

"It's not like that!" Jac muttered, closing the door to the room so no one could overhear. "I'm hardly going to make him sleep on the sofa am I? And it's not as if anything is going on between us … oh leave it alone Sacha; you're one to talk! What exactly _did_ happen last night?"

He turned away blushing as he pulled off his scrub bottoms and changed them for his baggy jeans, "okay, you win." He said under his breath, but still so Jac could hear it. She grinned.

"So Jonny was right! Ha! And there was me believing you!" they finished getting changed in silence; Jac shoved the last of her things into her bag and looked up at her bestfriend. "Well I'm pleased for you … no really I am; Mo – she's been a great help these past few weeks and …" she shrugged. "I get the feeling things will work between you for good."

"You think?"

"Yeah, I really do." He hugged her just as the door opened. Mo wondered in and Jonny, already changed, motioned to Jac that he was ready to leave. He knew perfectly well why Jac had let Jonny sleep in the same bed as her, and – once he told her, if he told her – so did Mo. The problem was getting the couple to realise it for themselves.


	8. Chapter 8

"Listen," Jonny began, "about last night; I …"

"What about it," Jac asked him softly.

"Well …" he shifted uncomfortably.

"Well what?" However Elliot was calling her and urging her to hurry up before they lost their patient before they reached theatre.

"Never mind; don't worry."

"Okay then."

Jonny watched as Elliot questioned her lack of urgency and he knew she was probably rolling her eyes at him. Mo appeared and Jonny grinned when she started telling both of them off for taking their time. The three of them reached an agreement and headed off to theatre as Sacha joined Jonny at the nurses' station.

"So how long you been living at Jac's then?"

Jonny turned his attention to Sacha and blinked. "Huh?" nearly two weeks had passed since Jonny had told Mo – and Sacha apparently too – about living with Jac and the same two weeks had passed since the relationship between his best mate and Jac's best friend crossed the line into romance. The gossip wheel was going into overdrive.

"You and Jac living together; how long now?"

"Why'd ya ask?"

Sacha shrugged, "a way to start a conversation." Jonny nodded his mind still on the conversation he'd attempted to have with Jac at least five times today already.

"So what did you wanna talk about?"

Sacha shrugged and smiled. "I don't know … how's sleeping in the same bed working out for you?" Jonny swung round on his chair alarmed and Sacha chuckled. "Jac didn't tell me, I just figured it out because she has only one room and her sofa is _really_ uncomfortable to sleep on."

"Well aren't double beds made for two people?" Jonny pointed out.

"Yes, but usually those two people are married or in love."

"Or having sex."

"Or that …" Sacha seemed to want to ask him something, and Jonny figured that he was uncertain as to how to phrase it. After a few moments, Jac's bestfriend spoke. "Isn't it a bit … weird?"

"Not really, no. Why would it be?"

"Because you're not together … how long are you planning on staying there?"

"Jac said I could stay as long as I wanted to."

"Sleeping in the same bed that whole time?"

Jonny was starting to get a bit annoyed. "Look, Sacha, what exactly do you want me to say?"

The GS registrar looked at him for a long moment and then sighed. "Okay … Mo will kill me for saying this but maybe it needs to be said."

"What are you on about?" Jonny asked in perplexity.

"You two."

"What about us two?"

"You … you're still – still …" he sighed. "You still love each other."

Jonny froze and then started shaking his head and smiling in a bemused way, "No, no … we're friends. _Just friends._ Yeah? We're not … I mean we don't – aren't, y'know … no, no."

"Jonny, me and Jac are _just friends_. You and Mo are 'just friends' … you and Jac; you're never gonna just friends." As much as he wanted to disagree and insist that he was right, now that Sacha had said it Jonny knew he was right.

"We're not together."

"You're going to have to convince me I'm afraid." At Jonny's look he explained. "Seeing you and Jac together, even without all the baby stuff … you _look_ and act like you're together. Take when we went to the Italian; you two left and honestly, I could believe that you'd been married for years. I don't know what it is Jonny, but even when you argue we still get the … the feeling that you and Jac belong together."

Jonny was speechless. The whole 'more than just friends' thing he could accept, but this? This was too much. "I … I don't think – yeah, no I really think that, um, that … that you're barking up the completely wrong tree here mate …"

"Am I? Okay then. According to Mo, Malick told her the other day that he caught Gemma and Harry kissing in the peace garden."

"Really? I thought she was all 'never in a million years' when it came to him?"

"That's what we all assumed too, _but_ apparently Malick said they were going at it up against that little toy house thing, you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah I know what you mean, that brightly coloured plastic thing."

"Uh huh that."

"I'm surprised no one else saw them!"

Sacha seemed have let the question of him and Jac go, a fact which Jonny was grateful of; he needed time to get his head around it first of all before he started contemplating whether or not there was any truth behind the theory. They sat together discussing the best spots in the hospital for such antics and how likely discovery was in each place. They both agreed – after Jonny had pointed out the number of times and people that used it – that the linen cupboards were the best places since people rarely ever went in there unless for a specific thing.

By the time they had come to that conclusion, Jac, Mo and Elliot were out of theatre. While Mo and Jac seemed in relatively high spirits, Elliot it seemed was close to fuming. He slammed the door to the consultants' office shut – which was usually Jac's thing – and then Jac and Mo burst into a fit of giggles. "What's so funny?"

Mo shook her head, almost crying with laughter as she nearly collapsed over the counter while Jac, who'd made it round to the middle of the nurses' station, was leaning against the back of Jonny's chair and not quite as giggly as Mo – in fact, like Jonny and Sacha, she was now laughing more at Mo than Elliot slamming the door. "He was adamant that he was right, and that we were doing a bypass but he'd gotten the patients mixed up and thought we'd already fixed the lung tear. We kept telling him otherwise but he insisted on opening up to see get to the heart …"

"When was the last time he was wrong?" Sacha asked as Mo struggled to breath.

Jonny looked up as Jac shrugged. "Are you alright with her?" she nodded towards Mo.

"Yeah, why?"

"Maconie and I need to have a little chat, don't we?" she looked down at him while he twisted so he didn't strain his neck.

"Do we?"

"Yes."

"I can cope." Sacha told them as Mo, who'd nearly finished laughing, erupted into fresh laughter. "Go and talk," his look was directed more at Jonny and had a bit too much meaning behind it, but thankfully Jac was distracted by a patient's relative asking directions to the bathrooms. She tugged at Jonny's sleeve until he relented and got to his feet and Sacha gave him a second look as he automatically placed a hand on her back as he followed her towards the lift. However, he didn't drop his hand.

"What are we talking about?" Jonny asked as they got into the lift.

"You know what about Jonny." She told him as she hit the button for the ground floor.

"Last night? Why the sudden urge to talk?"

Jac shrugged. "Something Mo let slip …" she muttered and fell silent.

"Was it something about how, apparently, you and I will always be more than 'just friends'?" he asked, waiting for his suspicion to be confirmed.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because Sacha talked to me too …"

"Well this promises to be a … _interesting_ conversation." Jac said brightly as the doors opened and they stepped out into the entrance. "Do you want a drink?" Jonny shook his head, "good because I don't have any money on me." He grinned and followed her out of the hospital, grabbing her hand and pulling her along to one of the 'spots' he and Sacha had talked about which was round the back of the hospital. "Why are we here?" Jac asked when he came to a halt.

"Well I don't really want people listening in and it's a nice day so we might as well make use of that fact." She hadn't removed her hand from his.

"Fair enough," Jac agreed however her phone started ringing at that moment. Cursing under her breath, she hit the loudspeaker button and answered it. "What?"

"We have a problem," Sacha told her slowly.

"What kind of problem?"

"Mo's _still_ laughing."


	9. Chapter 9

"Fancy going out tonight? The four of us? Daniel is with Chrissie and the girls are with their mum."

"In case you hadn't noticed Levy, I'm pregnant."

"We don't have to go out, we could order a takeaway?" Jonny suggested.

"Okay but where we having it? Sacha's, mine or yours?" Mo asked.

"Ours is nearer."

"And is also smaller … fine!" Jac relented after Jonny did his 'pleeease' look. She didn't miss the ever present look Mo and Sacha shared; in fact both she and Jonny had got to the point where they were expecting them. They'd actually started a bet between them over who could get the most looks per shift they both worked and it was becoming a rather fun game.

"Okay, so what kinda time do you want us there?" Sacha asked.

Jonny glanced at Jac who shrugged, "say eight?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me," Mo smiled and Sacha nodded in agreement.

"See you at eight then," Jac told them as the lift opened out to reveal the busy entrance. "Now for the Olympic sport of crowd weaving," she muttered sarcastically as Mo and Sacha made a dash into a gap heading towards the canteen. "Seriously? We're having dinner in a few hours? Can't they wait?"

"Evidently not … c'mon," he took her hand and led the way through the crowd, and out to where he'd parked Jac's car. His had failed the MOT and so Jac had given up the keys to her rarely used car in the hopes he'd tell her where he'd hidden her motorbike keys – which he hadn't. "Do you want to do a quick food shop on the way back or can we last until tomorrow?"

"Food shopping is _not_ appealing right now … my feet ache and I'm tiered … you'll just have to use grown up toothpaste tonight and in the morning." Jac told him as she dumped her bag on the back seat and then got into the car while Jonny inspected a scratch on the door. "Hurry up; they'll be there before us at this rate!"

Smiling, he climbed in and started up the engine. Thankfully the traffic want at the standstill stage that meant walking was quicker and so they made it home – because they both knew that Jonny wasn't going anywhere – in about fifteen minutes. Joking about how Sacha and Mo were subject to about ten times more gossip than they had been – because they were their bestfriends mainly – Jac and Jonny passed the time it took to get to the flat fairly quickly.

As he always did upon arriving home, Jonny headed for the fridge only to have Jac remind him about how soon they'd be ordering dinner and he dragged his head out of it with a sigh before putting on the kettle. "What are we going to get then?" he asked as Jac unloaded her bag on the kitchen surface as she did every night.

"Don't mind … but I threw up after we had that pizza last time."

"No pizza then … Chinese or a curry?"

"Whatever Mo and Sacha want," Jac told him with a shrug and he nodded as he dug out the leaflets and made Jac's tea and his coffee.

"Does Sacha like football?"

"Why?"

"There's a game on tonight and if he likes it then I won't feel bad about watching it."

"I don't know," she replied honestly, "never had a conversation about it with him … and why would I want to? _Don't answer!_"

They wasted away an hour and a half or so with simple and boring mundane tasks that needed doing – Jonny did the ironing while Jac had a shower, and by the time they were done it was just gone eight. Emerging from the bedroom having just finished drying her hair, Jac watched as Jonny answered the constant buzz that meant Mo or Sacha or both – most likely they'd come together – had arrived and wanted to be granted access to the building. About three or four minutes later there was a knock on the door announcing their arrival.

Surprisingly it was only Mo, so the three of them settled down in the front room choosing what they wanted and then ordering it while they waited for Sacha to turn up. "Indian?"

"On second thoughts best not …" Jac said slowly. "Got another scan tomorrow _and _a consultants' meeting with Hanssen and Cunningham … better not risk it."

"Chinese then …" Jonny said as the buzzer went, knowing that Jac wasn't going to move from her spot on the sofa until it was time for bed, he got to his feet to let Sacha in. "You're late," he said when the registrar finally made it through the door.

"Sorry … traffic and I had Chrissie trying to tell me that I didn't warn her about Daniel being poorly," he shook his head. "But enough, I'm starving … what we getting?"

"Chinese because Jac will throw up at anything else," Mo told him brightly. "And since you're late I think you should pay …"

"I got dinner when we went out to the Italian!"

"That was six weeks ago … but fair point; Jonny Mac?"

"Why me?"

"Why not?" Mo smiled as he gave in and went to the landline to order their dinner. "Please tell us you're not a fan of football," she said as Sacha joined Mo on the floor with the cushions from the sofa.

"Don't mind it; why?"

Jac groaned, "Because Jonny wants it on and I said only if you wanted to watch it too."

"Who's playing?"

"You mistake me for someone who gives a shit about football." Sacha got to his feet and disappeared out of the room, probably to ask Jonny who was playing while Jac and Mo both yelled their protests when he came back to tell them that their evening's entertainment would be to watch the football.

Eleven o'clock found Jac curled up in Jonny's arms on the sofa half asleep, Mo also half asleep as she curled up next to Sacha, empty and half eaten Chinese boxes and food across the floor in front of the TV while Sacha and Jonny sat glued to the last seconds of their football game. It was a draw and the two men were supporting the opposing teams, both hoping for a last second goal …

"Yes!"

"No!"

Jac and Mo woke with a start and both became rather annoyed when they discovered they'd been woken because of _football_ … happy and triumphant, Sacha pulled Mo to her feet and offered to take her home while Jonny remained on the sofa – Jac was comfortable and so was he – fuming at his team's loss. Saying goodbye and singing his victory Sacha let Mo drag him out of the flat, and shut the door after them.

"Next time can you not wake me?" Jac asked sleepily as she snuggled closer into him while he switched the TV off.

"I'm sorry but …" he held his tongue knowing that Jac wasn't at all interested. "Okay I'll try not to next time."

"Thank you."

"That's it? Not telling me off for waking you up? No demand that I make it up to you by doing all your paperwork or whatever?"

"I'm tired Jonny … and paperwork isn't near enough for you to make it up to me."

"Isn't now? So what must I do then?"

"Stop beating around the bush Jonny; I love you … you love me. I'm exhausted so please just kiss me so we can go to bed."

Jonny grinned despite himself as he did as he was told. She wrapped her arms round his neck and he made no complaint when she refused to let him go anytime soon. Sometime later Jonny slid off the sofa, picked Jac up in his arms and put her to bed. "Y'know," he murmured as he lay beside her, "everyone else was right."

"Can we have this conversation when I'm not likely to fall asleep in the middle of it?"


	10. Chapter 10

"Who was it?"

"Hanssen – the consultants' meeting has been cancelled because too many people complained about how pointless it was … and because Cunningham has better ways to spend a Saturday." Jac told him as she placed her phone down beside the bed and then rolled back into Jonny's arms before he could protest.

"Just realised something," he said softly.

"What?"

"You haven't really been throwing up every morning for a while."

Jac thought about it while Jonny absently ran his fingers through her hair. "I s'pose you're right," Jac agreed, "I hadn't really thought about it much other than to be relived it's over."

"Unless you eat or smell something that doesn't agree with junior here," he placed his free hand on her stomach, over their baby.

"The baby is _not_ called junior."

"I didn't realise we were discussing name options already …"

"Oh very funny, hilarious; I'm literally _crying_ with laughter and am almost –" to shut her up, Jonny kissed her firmly on the lips and succeeded in distracting her from mocking him since she did not object in any way to his love.

Sometime later Jac was once again lying in Jonny's arms with her head against his – now bare – chest and he was fiddling with a strand of her hair. "So," he stated after several minutes silence.

"Why d'you always insist on talking afterwards? Can't we just lie here together without speaking?"

"Okay fine … but everyone else _was_ right y'know."

"Jonny!" she almost kicked him out of bed and he grinned as she moaned at him for not staying quiet. Sighing, she rolled onto her side to face him. "Yeah everybody was right. So what?"

"Do you really wanna deal with all the 'I knew its' that are bound to come our way?" he asked, tucking her hair behind her ear so it didn't fall across Jac's face.

"Not really … although no one's really paying us much attention since Sacha and Mo are all over each other. He's forever 'popping' up for an opinion on a patient and she's forever 'nipping' down to AAU for whatever reason."

"True," he agreed.

"It's not as if we're gonna be acting any differently at work or anything," Jac added slowly, an idea forming in her mind.

"What are you planning?" Jonny asked suspiciously.

Jac grinned, "Well why don't we just … see how long it takes them to figure it out?" she suggested. "Not do anything differently at work – or act any differently and just … see who clocks it first?"

"You are a right bitch at times," he told her.

"I know … well?"

"Alright then, why not? It'll a wee bit of fun while we wait for the baby … I _hope_ they work it out before then."

"Let's say that if they haven't then when the baby comes, we'll tell them."

"Sounds like a plan to me … are we getting up anytime soon or not? Because if not, then I propose breakfast in bed followed by that new film we haven't seen yet on the laptop."

"I knew I'd fallen in love with you for a reason," Jac smiled, kissing him. "But we have got the scan at three."

"Up by one then? To give us plenty of time to get there?" Jac nodded and watched as he threw the duvet off himself and left the room. Jac gave it a moment or two before she searched under the bed for the laptop and the charger and also finding the jumper she'd lost as well as several odd socks and one of Jonny's ties. Leaving the clothing for another day, Jac plugged in the charger and then fell back onto the bed to wait for Jonny.

After five minutes she got bored and decided to see what was taking him so long. Detouring to the bathroom since the baby had delegated her bladder the task of a football … well, Jonny would be happy if that was the case. She'd yet to feel the baby – it was a baby now rather than just an 'it' because … well because – move inside her, although she wasn't overly concerned just yet seeing as she was just over four months into the pregnancy.

"Jac? I'm in the bedroom when you're done!" she decided against answering him.

Emerging from the bathroom Jac stopped with a frown on her face in the doorway to the bedroom, her hands resting on her bump. Neither she nor Jonny were wearing any clothes since they'd abandoned them earlier. It was a rather _odd_ sensation, but in a pleasant way; it reminded her that the being inside her was independent.

"You okay?"

"Uh huh."

"What's up?"

"I er, I think …" Jac frowned again, making sense of it all. "I think the baby's moving." Jonny fell out of bed. He stumbled to his knees and shuffled forwards as Jac smiled.

"What?"

Jac reached out and placed his hands over her bump as their child fidgeted again, making its presence noticed and capturing its parents' hearts forever. "Feel it?"

He nodded before kissing her stomach and then taking her hands and pulling her into bed once more. Jac snuggled into his arms and they sat marvelling at what had just happened while picking at the array of food Jonny had decided on for breakfast. Suddenly, they couldn't wait; it was as if the next five months couldn't happen soon enough. All they wanted was for their baby to arrive and so that they could show their perfect child off to the world.

They didn't watch the film. Instead they sat and talked and found themselves looking at baby stuff online while Jonny tried to convince Jac that the flat wasn't big enough for three people, even if that third person was only going to be small at first. While she agreed with him neither wanted to go through the fuss of moving until it was necessary so they left that conversation for another day and returned to talking how, if it was a boy, Jonny would take him to football and out camping in Scotland and how, should it be a girl, Jonny would _still_ do all those things but Jac would also take her to dance classes or horse riding or something more girly – but not too girly.

It shocked them slightly when they realised it was two in the afternoon and that the check-up with the midwife was in an hour's time. Rushing to get dressed, they thanked the fact that the roads were pretty much empty on a Saturday afternoon and managed to arrive with five minutes to spare. Slouching down on the plastic seats while the girl behind the desk went to tell the mid wife they'd arrived, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Just a scan t'day?" Jonny checked.

"Yeah; to make sure nothing's going wrong because of my endometriosis."

"I'm sure everything's gonna be fine." he reassured her with a smile; "it's just standard procedure after all."

"You're right." Jac couldn't help worry though; she hadn't really worried yet and she figured that she'd start leaking emotionally on Jonny at some point soonish because of that fact.

The girl reappeared and told them that the midwife was ready to see them. Taking his hand, Jac once again let Jonny lead her down the corridor and into the room.


	11. Chapter 11

"She's in theatre with Elliot and will be for the foreseeable future."

"What?"

"Mo; she's not on the ward."

Sacha flopped down on the empty chair deflated, "well then I'll … erm …"

"Wait here 'till she's done? Or come back up later? Or give me some soppy romantic message crap to give to her?"

"_Soppy romantic message crap_?" Jonny questioned as he came back from taking a patient for an MRI, handing Jac the result as he did so. "Well I'd best not give you any of the messages I've been told to give you then."

"It depends entirely upon who they're from and how clichéd and cheesy they are." Jac told him with a coy smile.

"I'll keep that in mind," he grinned. "Anyway I'm off to take Mrs Rodgers up to Oncology … try not to miss me too much while I'm gone."

"I'll do my very best," Jac told him with a hint of sarcasm and he winked as he headed back into the ward. Turning back to her friend Jac raised an eyebrow as she caught him stealing one of Elliot's doughnuts. "So what's it to be then Sacha? Are you staying, are you going or are you message leaving?"

"Well I know you're not going to give her any message so I shall come back later."

"That and Ric's already annoyed at you for wondering off all the time," Jac muttered as he got up throwing a grin over his shoulder at her as the new F1 requested her help in diagnosing a particularly troublesome patient. Showing her irritation, Jac headed over to the bed as Jonny coaxed Mrs Rodgers into the wheelchair. She'd been discharged not long after Mo had delivered her of the news but had then been readmitted last week because she'd deteriorated drastically.

Resisting the urge to yell at her patient and the F1, Jac finally got to the bottom of the problem and diagnosed the patient as a waste of time and a hypercondriact. Mo and Elliot were discussing theatre while their victim was being taken through to HDU at the nurses' station as Jac joined them with the newbie at her heels, struggling not to shout – Jonny had bet her she couldn't go a whole shift without shouting – at the incompetence of the junior.

"Professor Hope, Ms Effanga … Mr Ferguson in bed eight – your diagnosis?"

"Waste of time." Mo shrugged at once, "he came into AAU last week and the ED week before insistent that something was wrong."

"Well, yes I would agree." Elliot agreed. "And I asked for him to be discharged before we went into theatre."

Turning to the F1, who coward away from Jac slightly, she took a breath and keep her voice level – determined to prove Jonny wrong – she spoke. "So you chose to ignore a consultant and a registrar asking to discharge him and instead, undermined them both by getting me involved? What's your name?"

"Terry, Doctor Terry Madison; but I'm not sure that you're taking him seriously! There is _obviously_ something wrong with him and …"

"Well," Jac grabbed the discharge forms and shoved them into his arms. "Since you're adamant that something is wrong, you have until the shift ends to prove us wrong. Unless he's in need of urgent surgery or treatment, I want him gone before the end of the day!" He stood there as the three surgeons stared at him expectantly.

"I'd get on with it if I were you," Jonny told him as he passed with the empty wheel chair. "That is unless you're wanting to be delegated the task of doing the jobs that I'm not about to do me self; y'know the ones that involve mopping up puke and …" He hurried off to Mr Ferguson's bedside, aware that he had only got about four hours to prove his worth as an F1.

"How long has he been here?" Jac asked, leaning against the counter as Mo settled down in the chair next to Jonny while Elliot ruffled through files.

"Two weeks or so … he's first day was when Jonny yelled at when he hit your car that day you came in for your scan. Did you not notice?" Mo asked surprised. Jac shrugged and avoided looking at Jonny; she'd had other things – Jonny and the baby – on her mind since that weekend so the arrival of a new and highly annoying, arrogant, F1 on her ward was hardly going to register.

"Sacha came up looking for you."

"Yeah Jac doesn't agree with 'soppy romantic message crap' so he didn't leave you one." Jonny grinned as Jac threw a ball of paper at him.

"Well I am due a break so I think I'll go and see what he wanted … any excuse to get away from you two and the fact that you're adamant you're 'just friends'." Jac opened her mouth to speak, but Mo beat her to it as she ducked round the edge of the nurses' station. "And _yes_, I'll be back in time to join you in theatre for the cabbage procedure on bay one."

"Glad to hear it."

"Couldn't get me a coffee could ya?" Jonny yelled after his mate as she headed towards the stairs.

"Get it yourself you lazy sod!" she yelled back.

"Nah, I'm good!"

Jac shook her head as the door to the staircase closed on Mo and Elliot was paged to one of the peads' wards. "One day she'd going to lamp you one," Jac told him. "And I'll just laugh."

"Well that's very considerate of you … I'm being bullied by my bestfriend and girlfriend!" Jac laughed lightly as she took the empty chair with gratitude. They weren't hiding their relationship at all – on the contrary they were almost trying to drop enough hints so that _someone_ would clock that they were actually together.

"Oh stop complaining Maconie; you've got what you've always wanted."

"Have I now?" he asked, pulling his chair close to hers. Jac rolled her eyes before giving him a quick kiss. "Maybe I have …" he murmured, his hands round her waist and preventing her from pulling away. "Oi, is that all I'm getting?" Jac rolled her eyes but relented and let him kiss her there and then on the ward and – potentially – in full view of everyone they worked with.

No really sure how long it was later, but a rather uncomfortable cough interrupted them and Jonny pulled away from Jac to give whoever it was a pointed glare. "Yes?"

Terry Madison eyed the pair with a small calculative smile in his lips. "I'd like to keep Mr Ferguson in overnight."

"Why?" Jac demanded.

"Do you really want these to be posted all over the hospital?" he showed them several photos on his flashy up-to-date smart phone. He thought he was so clever … Jonny beckoned the F1 closer with the excuse of not being able to see the photos properly. Foolishly Terry Madison stepped closer and bringing the phone within Jonny's reach. "Give that back!" he yelled as Jonny snatched the device out of his hand.

"I thought surgeons were supposed to have good hand control?" Jonny said conversationally to Jac as he perused Terry's photo album.

"Give me back my property! I'll report you!"

"For what? Confiscating your phone because you were using it instead of working? Who are they likely to believe? An arrogant F1 or a consultant and a senior nurse?" Jac asked as Jonny perused Terry's photo album. "Anyway; discharge Mr Ferguson unless you have proof that there is actually something wrong with him."

"And you can have this when you're done." Jonny smiled annoyingly as the F1 threw them a filthy look and turned back to the ward and his hypercondriact patient. "Well we're the only interesting thing in his photo album," Jonny told her brightly. "Just some attempts at 'artistic' photography and stolen unfunny pictures from the net."

"Let's have a look." Jac held out her hand for the phone but Jonny wrapped his arms round her, rested his head on her shoulder and looked through Terry's photo album with her. Less than thirty photos later they resorted to his text messages and contacts. "There's nothing remotely interesting here Jonny – steal someone else's phone next time."

"You want me to delete the photos? Oh but I forgot you're used to having people taking pictures of you kissing handsome men …"

"Handsome?"

"Charming then."

Jac gave in and agreed with him, kissing his cheek as he deleted the photos and, for good measure, sent a rather inappropriate text to several of his female contacts – including Gemma, Mary-Claire and Chantelle – before Jac removed the phone from his grasp and discarded it in a draw before deciding to finish their kiss.


	12. Chapter 12

"Y'know Naylor and Maconie are together right?" Terry Madison said, sidling up to Mo and Sacha in the canteen.

Mo gave him a stare that would've made Jac proud, "Yeah … sure they are."

"But they are! They were kissing in the middle of the ward … I even got photos!" Sacha and Mo exchanged a glance.

"Let's see them then," Sacha asked, holding out his hand and Terry fidgeted slightly.

"Well … I, erm … don't have my phone on me …"

Mo shook her head, "seriously? Come up with a better lie next time … oh and has Mr Ferguson been discharged yet?"

"No …"

"Why not?" Sacha asked – he'd been the one who'd transferred the hypercondriact to Darwin in the first place – with surprise. "Go and do it before Hanssen finds out you've disobeyed _two_ consultants and a registrar."

"And d'you really think that Sacha and I wouldn't know if Jac and Jonny had finally come to their senses?" Mo yelled after the retreating F1 as Sacha chuckled beside her. "_Naylor and Maconie were kissing in the middle of the ward …_ even if Jac and Jonny _were_ together – they'd of snuck off to the linen closet or the on-call room."

"I know … wonder who else he's gonna try and convince."

"The entire hospital no doubt," Mo muttered.

"Well he's not gonna have much luck is he?" Mo agreed with him as her pager announced that she was needed back on Darwin. "When does your shift end?"

"Half eight," Mo pulled a face.

"Well I finish at eight so I'll come up and wait for you?"

"Sounds good," Sacha kissed her lightly as Mo headed for the lift, and waved merrily at her before the doors blocked her from view. Sipping her coffee, Mo was asked to get out of the lift on the fifth floor because maintenance wanted to check it over. She overheard Terry Madison trying to tell the Keller lot about Jac and Jonny.

Malick and Michael weren't impressed and Chantelle was frowning while Digby seemed confused. "I … I don't understand? Why would they kiss, in the middle of the ward? They're just friends aren't they?"

"As much as Sacha and I try to tell them otherwise, they are adamant that they are just friends," Mo told Digby as she joined the, "And I thought I asked you to go and discharge Mr Ferguson?"

"You don't tell me what to do!" the testosterone filled F1 bristled and Mo rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I do; unlike on Keller or AAU, F1s on Darwin don't have a specific mentor and are mentored by the registrars and consultants on the ward collectively. So unless you'd like a big fat zero for your first months' average, I'd go and do as you've been asked …" she left it hanging and the F1 threw her a filthy look before heading to the stairs.

"He is lying though?" Michael checked.

"Of course he is; it's hardly in character for Jac and Jonny to kiss where everyone can see them – now if he'd said he'd walked in on them in the store room then I'd probably believe him."

Malick nodded, "yeah Jac and Jonny are just good mates having a kid … don't see what his problem is really." Mo's pager bleeped again and she reluctantly excused herself and headed up to Darwin and whatever the problem was.

It turned out that the cabbage procedure on bay one had become less of a cabbage and more of a 'oh shit' so Jac had taken her into theatre. Apologising for being late, Jonny helped her pull on the gown as Mo scrubbed up while Jac yelled at Terry to keep his mouth shut and stand in the corner or he'd be thrown out.

"Have you discharged the patient yet Madison?"

"Ah yeah go and do that; Ms Effanga is here now so you can get out!"

"What?" he asked startled.

"You have to earn your place in theatre," Jonny explained as he handed Jac the scalpel.

"Can't I just watch?" he pleaded. "Besides … surely you're more of a risk than me; being pregnant and all that," he added to Jac. No one spoke as they all stared at Terry in amazement. Mo watched Jac as she carefully handed her the scalpel before turning to the junior doctor.

Perhaps the fact that Elliot chose that moment to storm in was a good thing because he didn't give Jac a chance to let rip on Terry. "Why is Mr Ferguson _still_ here?"

"You haven't discharged him yet?" Jonny asked incredulously.

"Just take him out," Jac told Elliot, "and deal with him before I get out of here otherwise I might sack him …"

"Well the way he's going I wouldn't blame you." Elliot muttered as Terry Madison pulled off his scrubs and left theatre at the professor's heels.

"Well … shall we get back to what we're meant to be doing?" Mo asked brightly, offering Jac the scalpel, which she refused for some reason.

"I see no reason not to," Jac answered as Mo began the operation.

An hour and a half later Mo, Jac and Jonny returned to Darwin in time to see Hanssen escorting Mr Ferguson out of the building, along with a member of security for good measure. Slumping down on the available chair, Jac watched amused as Mo and Jonny fought over the second one while Terry Madison searched frantically through the nurses' station for something. "Alright where is it?" he demanded, staring from Jac to Jonny.

"Where's what?" Jonny asked as Jac sent a nurse to fetch her stethoscope from her office.

"My phone. Y'know, the one you nicked off me … where is it?"

Jonny glanced at Jac who shrugged and the junior stormed off in a huff as the nurse handed Jac her stethoscope and Mo the results of the patient in HDU. "Why was he asking you where his phone was?"

Jac shrugged again as she placed her stethoscope in her ears. "He was playing on it rather than working so I confiscated it … can't remember where I put it and I really don't care either." Mo watched as the consultant placed the end of her stethoscope on her ever growing bump and moved it round until she'd found what she'd been searching for. "Jonny … listen," she said softly and Mo hid her smile as Jonny placed the stethoscope in his ears and let a smile lighten up his face.

Mo _almost_ questioned them about Terry's accusations as Jac and Jonny shared a smile and a look she was sure was about to lead to a kiss, but then Jac reclaimed her stethoscope and told Jonny to get back to work. Madison was making it up because he was used to being the centre of attention and having praise and chucked at him and used to being listened to … Yeah Terry was your typical middle class kid who expected that now he'd passed his degree to be treated as if he was the next best thing since sliced bread. Declining Jac's offer to hear the baby's heartbeat, Mo started the long awaited chat about names for the child.

They both agreed that 'Naylor-Maconie' was boarding on child abuse although Mo didn't get any clear indication as to what Jac wanted as her baby's surname. She'd just have to wait and see.


	13. Chapter 13

Thankfully – in the mind of Darwin at any rate – Terry Madison had been transferred to Keller (although they weren't too happy about that) a week after his disastrous shift that had almost gotten him sacked, and they'd received Gemma Wilde in return since Dominic Copeland was shunted down to AAU. At the consultants' meeting where they'd decided who got moved where, they'd all agreed that sending Arthur Digby down to AAU was asking for a death warrant and so he'd been left on Keller. Jac and Elliot had sat throughout that meeting adamant that either Terry Madison was transferred off Darwin or he was sacked.

Jac listened, uninterested, as Gemma rattled off about the diagnosis of the two year old boy who'd been brought in half an hour ago. "And you are telling me because?"

Gemma faltered slightly, "well Professor Hope isn't in and Ms Effanga is in theatre all day … I just need you to do an echo; no one's taught me how to read them yet."

"Fine," Jac took the file and headed over to the bed with the two-year old, "what's his name? The kid."

"Mathew – or Matty as his mum calls him."

Jac stood close to the bedside – or as close as she could with her ever growing bump – and bribed the little boy into staying still with the promise he could play on the iPad for a bit. He stayed rock still while Jac did the echo and, deciding to make the little boy work for his treat, gave Gemma a rudimentary lesson in how to perform an echo.

Giving up the iPad, Jac watched as he giggled and chose his game, and then joined the F1 at the nurses' station. "I'd like to keep him in a bit longer – run some more tests?"

"Well I'm not letting him being discharged until we know what is wrong with him," Jac told her and Gemma took that to mean 'go for it' as she hurried back to two year old Matty and his mother while Jac went to make herself a cup of tea. She returned to the nurses' station and overheard the conversation Mo was having with Jonny.

"Oh c'mon Jonny … as a favour to me … please." Mo pulled a pleading face, "you've met my mate and it's just one date."

_Date?_ Jac threw a glance at the pair as Jonny struggled to find a way to get out of it.

"You've not been out on a date for …" Mo searched, spotted Jac and involved her in the conversation at once. "Jac, when was the last time you and Jonny went on a date? Did you ever go on dates?"

Jac shrugged, "I can't remember."

"Exactly; Jonny Mac you are going on a date with my friend from med school, tonight and you'll have a good time … now be grateful that I'm setting you up with the one who won't freak out about your impending daddy-hood."

"Okay … fine!" he sighed.

Mo brought up a photo on her phone and showed it to Jonny, "Whatcha think Jac? Good enough for the father of your child?" Jac glanced at the picture of Mo hugging her – annoyingly pretty – blonde friend.

"Yeah whatever," she dismissed, missing Mo's roll of the eyes. "I'm due a break; want anything from the canteen?"

"Oh yeah … a coffee and one of those chocolate muffins please." Mo asked while Gemma – who'd returned to the nurses' station – asked for a tea. Jac turned and headed for the lift before Jonny had a chance to put his order in; however neither Mo nor Gemma read anything into her ignoring him and probably put it down to hormones.

Slipping out of the hospital to the sunny spot round the back of the building she sat down with her back against the wall. She was six months pregnant and her feet were aching constantly – not something she'd been thinking would be much of an issue. The idiot wasn't even _trying _to get out of the date Mo was trying to set him up on.

What so special about this friend anyway? Mo said he'd already met her, but from Jonny's look she can't have stuck that well in his mind – until he'd seen the photo that was. Why was she so worried? Jac knew Jonny loved her, he'd whispered it in her ear in the lift as they were heading up to Darwin for their shift that morning. And she knew he wasn't about to run off with another woman when she was three months away from giving birth to his child.

Her phone started ringing and when Jac saw that it was Jonny, she let it go to voicemail – just so he got the message that she was pissed off with him. Annoyed more with his constant ringing, Jac switched her phone off and rested her head against the wall as she closed her eyes briefly. But somehow Jonny found her.

"Are you in a wee mood with me by any chance?" he asked amused as he settled on the floor beside her.

"What do you think? Don't," she added as he made to place an arm round her shoulders.

"Oh c'mon Jac; Mo didn't exactly give me a chance to get out of it did she?" Jac didn't speak, knowing that was what he wanted. "You're not … jealous are you?"

"No!"

"Yeah you are."

"No I'm not!"

He laughed, "oh yeah you are … oh come here you," he wrapped his arms round her and pulled her against his chest, still laughing.

"I'm _not_ jealous," she told him again – just to make sure he was clear on that.

"If you say so," and Jac decided to let him win this round.

"Okay … maybe a little."

"You have nothing to be jealous of, okay?" he kissed her lightly on the lips. "I love you … _both_ of ya, and there aint nothin' you can do to get rid of me. You are stuck with me Naylor."

"So it seems … are you gonna go on this date for Mo?"

"I kinda have to – if I stand her up then I'll have Mo to answer to and if the only way Mo will lemme not go is if I tell her about us. And I'm having a wee bit too much fun leading her and the others on – although I doubt they'd believe _us_ even if we told them."

"You're probably right … okay go, just – just don't ... don't end up in bed with her or anything."

"I shall be home by eleven, is that alright with you?"

"And don't wake me up when you get in either."


	14. Chapter 14

"I'd still rather come home."

"I will be fine," Jac insisted as she turned him round to face him so she could tie his tie properly and make sure he looked his best for his 'date'.

"But … you collapsed!"

She glared at him. "It was a dizzy spell, Jonny. I didn't collapse … anyway, Sacha said he' give me a lift home – and he's conned me into watching Daniel while he takes his daughters to their mother for half term." She finished his tie and folded his collar down and he gave her a smile for her efforts.

"Okay … but _call_ me … promise? If anything happens …"

"I promise, now kiss me before Mo drags you away." He grinned and did as she asked, pushing her up against the lockers as his tongue snuck its way into her mouth and then leaving her way too soon and way before the kiss had even began. "Not fair!"

He grabbed his jacket and his wallet out of his bag that Jac was taking home with her, and grinned. "Don't wait up for me."

"I won't," she told him, sticking out her tongue. Laughing at her, Jonny shut the door and found Mo tapping her invisible watch and telling him he was gonna be late. Deciding not to answer her Jonny headed for the lift and for Albie's.

The pub was comfortably filled with the odd group of hospital staff as well as punters from the other parts of the city. "Jonny Mac!" he looked up and nodded to Albie. "Alone? Where's Mo?"

Jonny grimaced as he leant against the bar. "She's set me up on a wee date …"

"Why am I not surprised? Do you want your usual?"

"Please …" he fished out his wallet as the door opened. Glancing over his shoulder, the blonde woman from the photo Mo had shown him earlier entered and glanced round. Obviously recognising him, she smiled and joined him at the bar.

"Hey … nice day huh?" she smiled brightly at him. "It's Jonny, right?"

"Yup, that's me … and sorry, Mo didn't mention yours."

"Typical Mo … did she con you into this last minute?"

"What gave it away?" he asked and she laughed lightly, as Albie handed him his beer, "sorry … what d'you want?"

"I'll have a gin and tonic please …" Albie nodded, winking slightly at Jonny as he turned away from her to sort her drink. "And it's Kate."

"Nice to meet you Kate," Jonny smiled as he paid for their drinks and directed Kate to a small table in the corner. He had to hand it to Mo; Kate ticked all his boxes and had he in fact been single then he would be taking her break to the bathroom as an opportunity to ring Mo and thank her.

"So Jonny, I'm also guessing that Mo didn't say much about me either when she dropped this on you?"

"No, sorry – she's been in and out of theatre all day and convinced me into this in the space of the ten minutes spare she had."

Kate laughed. "Well she did at least tell me about you; I hear you're a dad."

"Not quite yet, Jac's only just six months gone."

"Jac? The same Jac that Mo said she'd given up on getting you with because you two have shoved each other in the friendzone?"

"Er … is that what she's saying?" Kate nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "Yeah … that Jac."

"Isn't it a bit … weird living with your ex-girlfriend?"

Jonny took a rather large gulp of beer, "y'know you're not the first to ask me that!" he joked, "But tell me about yourself," he asked to direct attention away from himself. He sat and listened as she told him about how she was being interviewed in the morning for the position of Jac's maternity cover – Jonny decided _not_ to tell Jac about that – and how she hoped her association with Mo would give her that edge she need to get the temporary job.

"This whole agency thing was a _big_ mistake – Mo tried to convince me otherwise but I was sure it was the best thing to do!" Jonny laughed with her as she paused for breath. "I can't half ramble on can I?"

"Don't worry about it," Jonny smiled. "Another?" he asked as she finished her drink and she nodded with a smiled.

"Not trying to get me drunk are you? I'm not that easy!"

Jonny didn't respond as he got to his feet and headed over to the bar, "I'll bet you are," he muttered under his breath. In truth, after Jac, he'd yet to encounter a challenge; if he so wanted he could probably have her as putty in his hands with in an hour. Ordering the same again, Jonny checked his phone, almost wishing for a missed call from Jac.

Sighing at the fact that there was no excuse for him to bail, Jonny thanked Albie and returned to the table with Kate. She, however, seemed keen to return to the subject of his, as yet, unborn child and his relationship with its mother. He shifted uncomfortably, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt and loosening his tie as he tried with all his might to put her off him. However the way she was leaning towards him over her drink and the look in his eyes told her that it wasn't working. She tilted her head slightly and Jonny knew what that meant. It meant that she was already at the mentally undressing stage.

He sighed and put his drink down. "Look, I have to be straight with you …" he struggled with the words.

"What?" she asked and Kate reached out and took his hand in hers.

"Everyone at work – Mo included – is certain that there is nothing between me and Jac … and there wasn't – but … well there _is_ something between us and …" Kate withdrew her hand as if he'd stung her. "I'm sorry – I should've said so from the word go, but … Mo won't believe you when you tell her. She'll probably fob it off as an excuse –"

"It is an excuse!" Jonny blinked.

"No, Kate … seriously, I'm not – I wasn't …"

"Do you do this often? Go out on a date and then pretend you're with some other woman? I should've guessed … I did wonder when we first met if you were one of those players!" She got to her feet, grabbed Jonny's untouched beer, and threw it all over him. "Well you aint playing me!"

Jonny stood there blinking as the door to the pub slammed shut. A moment later Albie arrived with a fresh beer – on the house – and a sympathy pat on the shoulder as he mopped the table dry and collected the empty glasses. Draining the free beer, Jonny got to his feet – thankful that it was still fairly warm out – and blagged a lift off Malick as he finished his shift. Jonny just shook his head and Malick didn't ask about his beer-soaked state.

Jonny was dropped off opposite the building of flats he lived in and hurried across the street, stumbling once due to his two pints of beer he'd consumed. It wasn't even eight o'clock. He keyed in the code and five minutes later was unlocking the door and coming face to face with a surprised Jac clad in a towel complete with wet hair. "What happened? You didn't bail did you?"

"No, she walked out – threw me beer all over me," Jac burst into laughter as he shut the door and dumped his keys on top of the radio. "Shut up!"

"I'm sorry … you can tell me about it while I get dressed – and put your shirt and tie in to soak before they stain," she added heading towards their bedroom. Rolling his eyes Jonny did as he was told and settled down on the bed shirtless to complain to Jac about his 'date'.

"That is the last time I go on a date."

"Oh, so I don't get one then?" Jac asked sneakily as she turned on the hairdryer, blocking out his reply and Jonny sighed; would he ever win?


	15. Chapter 15

"Why d'you say you and Jac were together to get out of that date last night?" Mo cornered Jonny in the locker room and the situation was made all the more awkward due to the fact that he was clad only in his boxer shorts. "And where are you going?" she asked as Jac tried – and failed – to sneak out onto the ward.

"Er … bathroom?"

"Yeah, 'course you are …" Jac contemplated making a run for it, but then she figured that being six months pregnant would put her at a disadvantage so she carefully went to the spot Mo's finger was pointed to and waited for her to speak. "Well?"

Jonny spluttered, "because we _are _together Mo! Jeeze … we've been trying to drop enough hints so that you'd figure it all out but ..." he ran a hand over his face, "you're now adamant we've 'friendzoned' each other!"

Mo chewed the inside of her cheek as she looked between the two of them. However Gemma popped her head round the door, frowned at the sight of a practically naked Jonny – he was thankfully wearing boxers – and a furious Mo and Jac trying not to laugh. "Er … Elliot's getting a bit grumpy and says if you don't start working in the next thirty seconds he'll sack you."

"Has he run out of doughnuts by any chance?" Jac asked, taking advantage of the intervention, and left the room.

"Probably – I've sent Fin down to get some more – but I don't see why he's so stressed, the ward is basically empty …" Jac slumped down into a chair at the nurses' station as Gemma glanced over her shoulder as Mo stormed out and headed directly for the staff room. "What's up with Mo?"

Jac wasn't given a chance to reply since a yell from the lift caught their attention. Since there was no way Jac could run, Gemma went instead as Jonny – now fully clothed – joined her. They dragged the trolley towards Jac and the ward. "Theatre; now." Jac commanded after taking a glance at the man with lying with a knife sticking out of his chest. "Page Elliot; Jonny you scrub in and Dr Wilde inform Mo that her heart transplant will be postponed."

"What? Not gonna happen Jac!" Mo told her and Jac stepped back so she could see the patient.

"Tell that to him … theatre, now." Ignoring Mo, Jac pulled the trolley towards theatre, picking up Elliot along the way.

"Y'know Mo's gonna be fuming when we get out," Jonny muttered into her ear.

"She's your mate; you deal with her."

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome."

True to Jonny's prediction, Mo was not happy when they emerged from theatre two hours later – but she held her tongue once she learnt that they'd been unsuccessful in saving the man with the kitchen knife embedded in his chest. Throughout the rest of the shift, Mo watched Jac and Jonny with a calculative look, as if trying to catch them out and prove that they were, in fact, just good friends.

"It just seems too good to be true," Mo complained to Sacha on their only joint break that day. "I spent all that time and effort since finding out she was pregnant trying to get them to see sense … and then I accept that it's not gonna happen and then they say it has!"

"And breath …" Sacha sighed and earnt himself a glare from Mo. "I grant that it seems a little … out of the ordinary for them to _suddenly_ be together but … well, if they're both saying it then I think we're gonna have to take their word for it."

"But they're not acting any differently around each other!"

"That's because they've been acting like a couple in love ever since they found out she was pregnant," he pointed out, finishing his mug of – now cold – coffee. "Seriously Mo, I think they might just be telling the truth."

Mo rolled her eyes. "Next you'll be telling me that Terry Madison _did_ see them kissing in the middle of the ward six weeks ago."

"He probably did," Sacha shrugged, "and he never did find his phone, which makes me wonder if there were, in fact photos on it …"

"Jac would've made Jonny delete them … I doubt she'd want a repeat of what happened when Ollie's sister … what was the name?"

"Penny."

"Yeah – I can never remember it for some reason – when she took that photo of Jac and Ollie on New Years that time."

"Not she probably doesn't … wouldn't be surprised if Michael still has the photo knocking around somewhere." Sacha added getting to his feet, "oh and you said you had my phone charger – better take it now or I'll be out of battery before the end of the day …"

"Yeah it's in my locker, c'mon." Mo led the way out of the staff room and into the locker room. She had just pulled the tangled wire out of her bag when the door opened and Jac came in, shut the door and then sank – exhausted – onto the bench. "What's up with you?"

"The knife guy from earlier, the police want to know if he said anything before he died and what happened in theatre and then I was delegated the task of telling his family …" Jac glanced down at the ground. "He had a six week old son, a two year old daughter and a wife who cried the moment I told her I was ring from the hospital … and he was killed because he was an idiot and went to try and stop a group of teenagers from harassing a young girl."

Mo watched as Jac hugged her knees to her chest – as much as her bump would allow – and stare with bright eyes at her trainers. "How you doing Jac?" Mo asked, sitting on the edge of the bench, "not long left now and you'll have your baby."

"Drained … utterly exhausted, but in a good way I s'pose." Jac looked from Mo to Sacha and rolled her eyes. "Remember the takeaway we had at my flat?"

"When we were woken because of _football_?"

"Yeah then … that's how long."

"How long what?" Sacha asked, his voice echoing the confusion on Mo's face.

"How long Jonny and I have been back together for … make it more believable Mo?"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Mo demanded.

Jac shrugged, "we didn't want all the 'I knew its' and thought it'd be quite funny to see how long it took you lot to figure it all out – we never hid it from you."

Sacha gave Mo a 'what did I say' look and Jac smiled as Mo stuck her tongue out at him. "Well we've been a bit blind to it I guess – got used to you two acting towards each other as you did as 'just friends' that we failed to notice. But now you've told me, thinking back … yeah I think we always knew you were."

The door opened as Jonny wondered in and Mo let out a sigh, "okay … I believe you – on one condition."

"What?" Jac asked suspiciously."

"Prove it."

"Huh?"

"You heard me; I want you two to prove to me that you're not having us on with this whole 'we are together' crap." Jonny blinked – clearly wondering if he'd entered the conversation at the right moment or not – and Jac shook her head.

"Fine," Jonny stated, much to their surprise. He pulled Jac to her feet and before Mo had time to blink he was kissing her. Mo laughed as Sacha jumped out of the way as Jonny pushed Jac up against the lockers beside him and stuck his tongue down her throat – admittedly she had hers down his. Grinning at the evil little idea as it flashed through her mind, Mo fished out her phone, set it to camera mode and captured the incriminating evidence.


	16. Chapter 16

Oddly enough, Jonny was more put out than Jac about Mo's quick camera action and he spent the next week begging her not to spread it round the entire hospital, and unaware that it was too late and she already had moments after taking the photo. It was only when Michael came strolling up to Darwin, waving a bit of paper, that Jonny realised he had to just let it go and that, in all fairness, there had been no harm done.

"Oi Naylor; haven't you learnt your lesson yet?" the American grinned as he waved the bit of paper above her head. Snatching it out of his grasp, Jac glanced at whatever was on it and then rounded on Mo.

"Seriously? How old are you Mo? Five?"

Mo shrugged and then grinned when she realised that Jac decided she didn't have the energy to throttle her. "Oh c'mon … how else was I gonna convince everyone that you two had most definitely _not_ friendzoned each other?"

Jac gave up as Jonny, panicking, grabbed the bit of paper Michael had brought up with him. His face paled slightly and his eyes widened – which made Jac and Mo laugh – and then rounded on his best mate as Michael started his teasing. "Mo … but – why … I don't get – but …" Jonny spluttered and Jac rolled her eyes.

"Oh relax – it's just a photo."

"Yeah, the one of Naylor and Valentine even had Jac topless!" Michael grinned and Jonny snapped his head round to face Jac, who had suddenly become very interested in the desktop background of the computer.

"You just told me it was just a kiss!"

"It was … if you're that bothered I'm sure Spence still has a copy of the photo knocking around somewhere – you see, he secretly wishes it was him."

"Kissing you or kissing Ollie?" Mo asked as Michael made to protest.

"Take your pick," Jac told her as Michael shot her a nasty look – while handing Jonny a second bit of paper. "Now was there anything in particular you wanted or did you just come up here hoping to wind me up?" he faltered, "because it's not working!"

"Yes Jac, because that looks like it was just a kiss," Jonny told her.

She turned to look at him incredulously – in the back of her mind she was aware that Michael was grinning because no one had dared to suggest that to her before now – wondering why he was so bothered. "It was!" she almost laughed the hilarity of the situation. "And even so, that happened way before I met you – before I met Sacha even!" For some reason, Jonny wasn't overly convinced and Jac let out a groan. "Look, if you're that bothered ask him yourself – no don't do it!" she added as Jonny reached for his phone.

"Why? Because he'll tell me that you did sleep together?"

"I give up!" Jac told him, "go ahead; phone him up to ask him if something did or did not happen _before_ you were part of my life!" now rather annoyed at him, Jac stalked off to the consultants' office and slammed the door – causing Elliot to jump out of his skin and drop mayonnaise all over his keyboard. She sank down into her chair behind her desk clicked angrily on her emails, as if hoping they'd give her something else to be annoyed about other than the father of her child. "Idiot!" she muttered under her breath.

"Sorry?"

"Not you … Jonny – he's being an idiot … as always."

Elliot smiled tolerably, "not another lovers' tiff Jac?" Jac threw him a glare and he chuckled, "what's he done this time?"

Jac sighed and then complained to the grandpa of the hospital, "Michael showed Jonny the picture Penny took of me and Ollie that time – you must've seen it? – and he seemed to think that I'm lying about it being just a kiss."

"Does it really matter?"

"It does to him." Jac muttered gloomily as she trundled through email after pathetic email about who-knows-what from who-cares-who.

"So you're hiding in here rather than sorting things out – very mature Jac." To prove just how mature she was, she stuck her middle finger up at him complete with a roll of her eyes. "That's my point." Elliot gave up and left the room and left Jac to sulk.

Jac and Jonny avoided each other for the rest of the day – or as much as their jobs allowed them to – and refused to speak unless it was about a patient. However by the time they had gotten back to their flat – _their_ flat, not Jac's flat – Jac had grown tired of the stony silence and Jonny's insistence on ignoring her. She was exhausted, drained, hungry, sore, and everything else and Jonny was being uncharacteristically oblivious to the fact that at the end of the day Jac was feeling the toll the pregnancy was taking on her.

So, naturally, he started an argument the moment they walked through the door. They shouted at each other for about half an hour before Jonny stormed off to the bedroom leaving Jac – cursing her hormones – wondering what the argument had even been about as she wiped her tears on the back of her hand. Taking a deep breath, Jac headed towards the kitchen – searching for something to settle her stomach – and decided to make Jonny a coffee as a peace offering. Pushing open the door to their bedroom tentatively, Jac wondered if it was a bit too soon for a stalemate.

He was lying on his stomach – shirtless for some reason – across the bed and fiddling absently with his phone. Jonny glanced up as she pushed open the door and he rolled onto his back, his head dangling off the edge of the bed and looking at her upside-down. Sighing, Jac perched on the edge of the bed and handed him the coffee. "Sorry …" he muttered as he accepted the mug and shifted so he wasn't nearly falling off the bed.

"For what? Making a big deal over something that never meant anything in the first place?" Jac settled back against the headboard and rested her hands on her bump and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah …" he sat upright, nearly spilling his coffee all over the bed, "well … I – I …"

"You what?"

"I did call Ollie and –"

"You called him?" Jac shook her head, "what did he say?"

"He laughed," Jonny admitted, "which is why I was so annoyed all day."

"Because I was right and you were wrong?"

"Well …"

"And you started an argument because _I _was right and _you _were wrong?"


	17. Chapter 17

It seemed that Jac and Jonny's 'lovers tiff' as Elliot had called it, was enough to convince the hospital that they were, in fact, together. The gossip wheel had exhausted itself out within two weeks of the new information since, in reality, Jac and Jonny were old news. All anyone in the hospital could talk about as the weather grew colder and greyer as winter approached was how Arthur Digby had managed to get Chantelle into bed and not screw up his chance.

"I still can't work out how he did it!" Gemma said for the thousandth time to Jac – who was sitting on Jonny's lap – and Mo who was watching Sacha as he directed a relative towards the bathroom. "It's Sniffles for crying out loud! And Chantelle is _way_ out of her league."

Jac groaned and buried her face into Jonny's shoulder as Gemma showed no sign of stopping her annoying rants. "Oh shut up!" Mo cut across the F1, "yeah that Digby and Chantelle … well who cares? What I wanna know is how they had enough balls to do it in the hospital – even if it was in the most unoriginal place imaginable."

"Huh?" Gemma asked, evidently wondering what she meant.

"Ask them," Mo pointed towards Jac and Jonny who immediately feigned innocence. "Oh c'mon; where was the most … _imaginative_ place you two did it then?"

"Nope, not gonna have this conversation Mo," Jonny pushed Jac off him as he stood up and made to leave the conversation.

"Which means there was a place worse than the store rooms?" Mo demanded and Jac almost joined Jonny in his retreat from them. "Jac! Oi you're seven and a half months pregnant – don't think you can out run me!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," but Jac had already gotten to her feet in an attempt to escape. Gemma grinned as Mo followed her and pulled her to a stop so she had her back to the lifts, "what? Drag it out of Jonny, not me."

"Yeah but he's run off – the wimp – so you'll have to do."

"I'm not telling!"

"It's okay I'll just guess … now where is a likely spot for you and Jonny to get it on?" Mo grinned and Jac folded her arms and assumed an amused expression as she waited to hear the registrar's suggestions.

"You know I won't say yes even if you do mention it, don't you?"

"So I know the spot then!" Jac rolled her eyes and made to walk off and Mo stepped in front of her with a grin, "Hmmm, locker room? Your office? Or the staff room?"

"I'm not telling you!"

"Or was it in theatre? It was wasn't it?" She'd been told, several times – and Jac knew it was true – that she was, frankly, a crap liar. So naturally she failed to deny Mo's accusations convincingly enough.

"And there was me thinking that us in the staff room topped it all." Mo glanced confused over Jac's shoulder and then at the consultant's face, which had taken a deathly pale tone and was covered in an expression of 'oh crap … what do I do?' as she stood frozen. "Joseph Byrne," he added to Mo and shook her hand.

"Byrne?" she checked and Jac threw her a dirty look. "Yeah … heard a lot about you; Mo Effanga transplant registrar. And you know Jac."

"I've got … erm – I'm needed … um …" she spotted Elliot attending to the middle-aged Mr Wills and sought her freedom, "over with Mr Wills," she trialled off and ignoring Mo's knowing smirk as she joined the professor.

"Mr Wills, you need to stay in bed …" Elliot tried. "Oh Jac …"

"Look Professor Hope and Ms Effanga spent, oh – three hours was it? – fitting you with a brand new heart so that you'd have a decent amount of time with your kids and whatnot. Now if you'd rather they did all that for nothing then by all means, be my guest and wonder round the ward – but you do realise that we have nurses here that will wait on you hand and foot until you're well enough to move again?"

He shifted and then gave in. "I guess you're right … I thought you said you were gonna do it with that other woman?"

"Yeah well … that changed." The two consultants left Mr Wills in the capable hands of a pretty nurse and headed over to the nurses' station. "Why didn't I do it?"

"Because you've got six weeks to go and you've almost fainted twice today already … Joseph is it that time already!"

"I'm early, actually." He admitted.

"Well some of us actually have work to do so …" Jac headed randomly back onto the ward before ducking into the staff room and hoping she hadn't been spotted. A few moments later Jonny walked in and seeing Jac, frowned slightly.

"What you up to? Usually you waste your breaks in your office." She shrugged as he wrapped his arms round her from behind and hugged her close while Jac busied herself by doing the washing up. "Mo said your ex just turned up … Joseph."

"Uh-huh."

They stood in silence while Jac finished cleaning the last mug and then Jonny spoke with accusation hidden in his voice. "You're not hiding are you?"

"What gave you that idea?"

"You are aren't ya?"

"No!"

He kissed her neck and grinned into her hair as the door opened. "Oh … sorry … didn't think I'd be interrupting anything. Elliot said to wait here until he was done … but if you two are …"

Jac didn't like the look that crept up Jonny's face and she knew he was going to abandon her alone with Joseph. "Don't you dare," she warned.

"Sorry, but some of us have work to do and unlike you I still have another hour on my shift," he kissed her again – probably just to rub it into Joseph's face – and then left the room with a rather smug grin on his face. The moments of silence stretched between them as Jac tried to find something else to wash up.

Joseph cleared his throat uncomfortably and Jac waited for him to speak. "So is this how it's going to be between us then?"

"I don't know, is it?"

"You tell me."

Jac pulled the plug out and watched the water drain away. "You left me, remember?"

"Vividly," he muttered and Jac wondered what it was in his voice. "So you pregnant."

"State the obvious why don't you?"

"Still as bitter as ever though … tell me, does he _know_ you don't have a heart?" he said it as if he was curious.

"Apparently he thinks otherwise."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so –" Jac fell silent as she suddenly came over all weak; she bit her lip and took a sharp breath in order to control the niggling pain in her abdomen and the splitting headache that had erupted. Grabbing the sink for support she tried to steady herself as Joseph peered at her face with mild concern.

"You alright?"

"Spectacular." Jac muttered before she fainted dramatically and crumpled to the floor in a heap just as Elliot and Mo walked it.

"Joseph … what have you done?"


	18. Chapter 18

"Nothing!" he insisted as Elliot dragged him away from Jac and Mo knelt on the ground beside her. "She just fainted – honestly! I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah but you've hit her in the past so we do kinda have to ask," Mo pointed out as she took Jac's pulse. "I think it's just a simple fainting spell Elliot."

"Well I want her monitored just in case … and check the baby. Ah Jonny …"

"What's all the fuss? Jac?" he joined Mo beside Jac and then looked accusingly at Joseph. "What happened?"

"Why are you thinking that it was me? Why would I do anything?"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"Boys, boys," Mo warned as Gemma came to see why they were all hanging around in the staff room.

"What happened?" the F1 asked Joseph – who once again got rather defensive.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Is that what you said when you hit her last time? Should I get a trolley?"

"Er … yes we'd better – and can you let Hanssen know, or is it Serena?" Elliot told her, "Joseph can you wait in the Sisters' office please until I fetch you?"

"Why?" he demanded as Gemma hurried off to do as Elliot asked. "I didn't do anything!" Jonny immediately pointed out that in the past he had and then an argument erupted between the two men. Mo and Elliot tried to act as peacemakers but got dragged into the heated discussion about how Joseph may or may not have treated Jac in the past.

Just then Jac stirred and they all fell silent. She lifted her hand to her head and moaned a headache as she opened her eyes. Confusion flitted across her face as she realised she was being watched intently by the four people in the room. "What?" she muttered. "Never seen a pregnant woman faint before?"

"See! I didn't do anything!"

Jac frowned as she tried to sit up. Mo and Jonny forced her to take the movement slowly and she rolled her eyes, humouring them. "Don't tell me you lot got all defensive of me and tried to blame him?"

"Well," Elliot said slowly, waving Gemma away with the trolley, "I guess we were just concerned for you Jac."

"Yeah, well I'm fine."

"Aside from the fact that you just passed out," Jonny muttered.

"Give it a rest."

Elliot insisted on Jac remaining where she was for the next ten minutes or so and when she started to complain he told her it was either stay sitting on the floor hidden in the staff room or he'd have her stuck on a bed in on the ward where he could watch her. Jonny sat with her as she muttered mutiny about Elliot and complained about how uncomfortable she was sitting on the floor. "What happened? Jac, are you okay?"

"Don't tell me the whole hospital knows … hello Levy." Jac sighed as her best friend checked her pulse and then asked if the baby was okay. "Well I'm not allowed to move until the professor says otherwise so I could be having a haemorrhage or something and we wouldn't know."

"That's not funny." Jonny snapped and Jac held up her hands in mock surrender.

"He's right Jac." Sacha chided and Jac rolled her eyes.

"Oh look! I'm not bleeding am I? You'd soon know if I was –" she faltered and clutched her stomach and both Jonny and Sacha jumped towards her with worry on their faces and their hands out stretched towards her. "Oh you two are sooo easy to tease!"

"Don't do that!" Jonny almost yelled at her. "Please … don't joke about that. Ever." Elliot poked his head round the door just then and said he was happy for Jac to move again. Taking Jonny's hands and letting him help her up – mainly to stop him from telling her off about her ill-timed joke – she stumbled to her feet and almost fainted again. "Okay?"

Jac nodded her confidence that she was fine knocked slightly as Jonny took most of her weight and guided her across the corridor and into a side room. As per usual, she complained loudly – and comically – about the coldness of the gel. "So … what's the verdict? Problem or no problem … ouch."

"You're not having me on again are ya?"

Jac winced again and clutched Jonny's hand tightly. She then doubled over her buldging stomach and cried out in pain again. When Jac showed no signs of the pain stopping, Elliot swiftly paged for Mr T who arrived ten minutes later. Typically Jac was her usual difficult self which meant that it took the gynaecologist twice as long to work out what the issue was.

"It's just false labour – nothing to worry about …"

"Nothing to worry about!" Jac demanded "I'd like to see you cope with this!" Jonny rubbed her back and hugged her close as she muttered darkly into his chest.

"It happens in the late stages of pregnancy … and what with her due date being so close. I take it this is the first experience of the contractions?"

"What d'you think?" Sacha asked for Jac's benefit. "

The door opened and Mo walked in with Gemma and Joseph in tow and Jac groaned. "Oh come in, come in why don't you?" she told them sarcastically and getting a laugh out of Jonny and also a small kiss on the top of her head. Elliot and Mr T left them be – probably to discuss her further – and shut the door on their way out.

"Can I have a word with Jac in private please?"

Mo, Sacha, Jonny and Gemma all looked at Jac and she hesitated before nodding. Jonny shut the door behind him and the four of them lingered, waiting for Jac to call them back in. He clenched and unclenched the hand Jac had grabbed hold of. "Ouch," he muttered.

"Just wait, it took me about an hour to regain the use of mine when Helen had the girls." Sacha told him and then they all laughed at Jonny's look of horror and began teasing him about it for the next five minutes or so until Joseph wrenched the door open and stormed off. "See you around then Joseph!" Sacha called after him before Mo dragged the bubbly registrar into the side room.

"What was up with him?" Gemma asked.

"I told him where he could stick it." Jac shrugged and Jonny laughed.

"You wee devil you."

"That's me."

"Come here," he wrapped her in his arms as Gemma and Mo sympathised – hang on, Jac _hated_ sympathy? – with Jac about the pain of the contractions while Sacha and Jonny waited around bored out of their minds. And hour later Jac and Jonny collapsed – exhausted – on the sofa at Mo's flat while she and Sacha messed about in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"Do you two wanna stay the night? I actually had the sense to make sure I had a spare room." Mo grinned as she abandoned Sacha to sort dinner alone.

"Not sure yet – but Jonny's practically asleep so we probably will be."

Mo prodded Jonny, who'd started to snore, "Oi Jonny Mac, come and help me make up the bed in the spare room – I'd ask Jac but I know how tiring being pregnant is."

He moaned and huddled up to Jac, "Just pretend I'm the pregnant one, yeah? So Jac can help you not me."


	19. Chapter 19

Unfortunately, in the mind of three-quarters of Darwin at any rate, Joseph seemed to be back for good, and a week before Christmas Jac was shocked to learn that he'd applied – late – for her maternity cover, along with the friend of Mo's who had thrown the beer all over Jonny. Serena pulled her aside on morning while Jonny and Sacha were decorating the tree under Mo's supervision, to inform her that the decision would be made by the end of the day and that both Joseph and Kate – Jonny's 'date' – would be completing her list leaving her with sod all to do for the day.

"So I didn't need to get out of bed this morning then?"

Serena laughed and patted her arm before saying she'd be up in an hour to see how Professor Hope was getting on with the 'interviews' and left the ward to the inevitable roll of Jac's eyes. Since she wasn't exactly needed on the ward, Jac decided to pay Sacha a visit and annoy Ric in the process since the consultant had sworn never again to work alongside Jac _and_ Sacha at the same time, on the same case.

Wondering into the cess pit that was AAU, Jac hope there wasn't some imbicile infected with one of those diseases that were a hundred times more lethal to a pregnant woman. "Good morning Ms Naylor, and what can I do for you today?"

Jac rolled her eyes – again – at his usual 'I am pretending to be professional' manner. "Well I have nothing to do today since my maternity cover candidates are doing my job for the day so I thought I'd come and annoy you."

"And a certain Griffin by any chance?"

"Perhaps, we'll see how dull the day gets first." He laughed and then told her to earn her keep by dealing with the new arrival that the ED had sent up all nicely wrapped up in a florescent orange blanket. "You're too kind," she told him sarcastically before making her way over to the bed and the patient under the blanket.

While the woman lying immobile on the bed seemed perfectly happy to have Jac treat her, her relative – a boyfriend or something – was adamant against it because apparently her pregnancy was clouding her judgement and all other kinds of crap. Suspecting that the 'boyfriend' was somewhat against the idea that a woman could be a doctor, Jac rather unceremoniously dumped the case upon Ric.

"Well I should probably get back up to Darwin you see … make sure my ward isn't falling apart while Elliot is stuck in interviews." Before Ric could protest, Jac had already walked off to the door with Sacha – who was using the excuse of 'I've been paged' – leaving the consultant fuming.

"You really ought to stop doing that to him," Sacha told her with a grin that countered the seriousness of what he was telling her.

"If he hated me that much then he should've sacked me when he had the chance!"

"Well apparently he tried but too many people convinced him otherwise," Jac blinked and looked up at her friend.

"Why on earth would they do that?"

"Who knows," he shrugged, sighing heavily. "Alas that is the great mystery."

Jac laughed lightly as he stopped off at the vending machine before they headed for the lift since the, no longer small, bump of Jac's made even the smallest of staircases a chore. "Indeed it is … it is the million dollar question … and all that other crap."

"You know that sentence started really quite well."

"Shut up Levy," Jac muttered.

"Is junior here making you so tired that you can't even think a sentence through?"

"My baby is _not_ going to be called junior!"

"Jonny certainly seems to think so.

"Yeah well he's got another thing coming then doesn't he?" and Sacha laughed as the lift opened to allow more people inside.

"How long now?"

"Couple of weeks or so …"

"Not long at all then."

"Nope, not long at all …"

"Well, savour these two weeks or so my friend; giving birth is the easy bit."

"And what would you know about the giving birth bit? According to Mo you are _very _much a man and so can't possibly have experienced it to know whether it's easy or not! I'm half tempted to drag you in with me rather than Jonny, just so you can understand how very _not_ easy it is!"

It was no idle threat, and Sacha realised that his friend was dreading that moment more than any other part of the entire process. "Calm down! I didn't mean it like that!"

Just then the doors opened onto Darwin and the pair extracted themselves from the tangle of bodies, escaping the metal box before the doors closed on them. "Yeah yeah …" Jac muttered as she stalked off in search of Mo and sympathy since Jonny was just as much use as Sacha in the whole 'you shall be fine in the actually giving birth part'.

"What's up?" Mo asked as Jac sank down into an empty chair at the table in the staffroom. Complaining loudly about both Jonny and Sacha Mo soon got the gist of what the problem was – which amused her a great deal in fact. "Oh stop worrying; you'll be fine, okay? Yeah it is the single most painful experience of my life … but in a good way. The moment will probably be bittersweet – although more sweet than bitter for you – because you'll be in absolute agony and yet your kid will have arrived."

"Yeah … that's not helping either …"

"I give up!" Mo exclaimed getting to her feet and leaving the staff room before she stuck her head round the door and, with a wicked grin, added, "That mate of mine I set Jonny up with? Yeah she still doesn't believe his story … wanna come and annoy her for me?"

Jac's answering evil grin was enough and she swiftly – or as swiftly as the child inside her allowed – and followed Mo out of the room and back onto the ward where she was swiftly, and innocently, introduced to Kate. "Right … so I hear you've already found your way to the local pub?" Jac asked in a bored voice as she pretended to look through the notes the blonde had made about one of Jac's patients.

She froze. Clearly she hadn't made the connections that Jac was _the_ Jac until that moment. "Oh. You're Jac?"

"It's Ms Naylor to you."

"The woman Jonny shagged and got pregnant?" she laughed as if this was the most hilarious thing she'd ever heard and clearly hadn't realised that you weren't allowed to laugh at Jac. Ever. "Can't have been that good a fuck – he was back on the pulling scene days later no doubt."

Jac looked at Mo, who seemed shocked at her friend's attitude and swiftly mouthed the words 'no longer my friend' behind Kate's back.

"You!" Jonny paused in the act of handing over some files and a look of 'shiiit' spread across his face as he turned to look at the three women while Elliot and Joseph, who were discussing a patient outside HDU looked up curiously. "Have you no morals?"

He shot Jac a confused look, which she returned with a shrug and he rolled his eyes at her unhelpfulness. "What?" Jac half laughed at him, "I haven't a clue what she's on about any more than you do!"

"Okay I believe you," he told her sincerely. "What are you on about?" he asked Kate.

"You! You fucked her and then buggered off?" Kate threw her thumb over her shoulder at Jac so there was no question as to who she meant. "And you go out _dating_ people but pretend you're in a relationship with her? Who does that?"

Jac stood, smirking with Mo, behind Kate while she had a go at Jonny – clearly she'd been hoping that the 'date' a few weeks ago would've led to something. He stood spluttering and defending himself and when Kate realised that he wasn't going to apologise for 'leading her on' she turned on Jac, questioning the paternity of the child and suggesting that she could be lying about it even being his.

"Nice friend Mo. You should bring her along more often."

Jac was spared the comment by Elliot stepping in and nervously clearing his throat. "Yes well … Kate … yes, well the thing is … erm I don't think that you're – um … suited to the job …" Kate rounded on the professor and he almost dropped his messy pile of notes under his am. "And well if working with Jonny – and … and Mo – is going to – um … evoke this sort of thing on a regular basis then …"

"Spit it out Elliot." Jac told him irritably.

"Well the job's gone to Mr Byrne here so –" without warning the blonde friend of Mo's slapped Holby's grandpa across the face and stormed off leaving Mo, Jac, Jonny, Elliot and Joseph stunned.

"What just happened?" Serena asked, making them all jump out of their skins.


	20. Chapter 20

Three days before the New Year 'the slap' was still a subject of hilarity on the ward and made all the more entertaining because Elliot had banned it's mention within his hearing. Typically Jac was on her way into theatre when her waters broke.

"Oh for fuck sake!" she moaned, "Why now? Mr Smith needs an arterial valve replacement and it's already three years late!"

"Well unless you're able to operate whilst giving birth then I strongly suggest you let me take over." Joseph said as he watched the puddle at Jac's feet get bigger – while doing nothing to help her or call for assistance.

"Oh you'd just love that wouldn't you!" she snapped as she doubled over and swore again – this time because of the contractions rather than sensation she was wetting herself.

"Jac … you're about to have your baby."

"Yeah well it'll just have to wait won't it?" she took a deep steadying breath and leant against the sink as she struggled towards the door into the theatre. "Oh get outta my way!" she nearly collapsed into him as the contraction intensified before ebbing away, "yeah … see? They're stopping now … oh Jonny … what – what?"

He almost slipped as he trod in the puddle on the floor and Joseph grabbed his arm to steady him as well as trying to keep Jac from entering theatre. Thankfully when Jac cried out again Jonny grasped the situation, although he wasn't exactly helpful. "Oh my god … Jac! Jac … Jac it's happening now! Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh –"

"Shut up!" she yelled at him, "please … you're – not, you're … not … not helping!" he started spluttering and faffing about as Mo wondered in.

"Gemma called concerned that no one was joining her … ah." She took charged of the situation, shooed Joseph into theatre and told Jonny to fetch Mr T. The overly excited – and oblivious – Jonny ran off in the direction of obs and gynie, knocking into Serena Campbell as he did so.

"What's with him … alright there Jac?"

"What do you bloody think?" the consultant demanded shrugging Mo off. The registrar exchanged a knowing look with the GS consultant and they both firmly took hold of an arm before marching her – they both knew she'd _never_ let them subject her to the degrading form of transport called a wheelchair – down to maternity. "I'm fine … honestly …" she insisted before nearly collapsing between them, "Okay … maybe – maybe not … not fine."

Serena got bleeped so abandoned Jac in the capable hands of Mo as she hurried off to deal with whatever the problem was. The two women stumbled out of the lift and suddenly had a very disturbing sense of déjà vu Mo argued forcefully with the midwife - Jac's midwife actually – until they were directed to a room and told to wait.

"Oh no it's fine!" Mo yelled, "Not as if she's in _agony_ or anything!"

"I can't very well do much until your gynaecologist turns up – after all the endometriosis complicates things and I need his expertise." She said in that annoyingly calm voice that irritated Jac and Mo. "Now … where's the father?"

"I sent him to get Mr T," Mo told the midwife and she nodded her satisfaction before shutting the door, "Oh thanks … great help!" she turned back to Jac, who was perched on the edge of the bed bending over her bump as she took great gulping breaths. "This isn't pay back is it?"

This got a laugh out of the labouring consultant. "No … I'll inflict the pain on Jonny … when –he … finally arrives."

"Oooh good … erm, you _do _have a birthing plan don't you?"

"Er …"

"Jac!"

"Sorry!"

"That midwife is gonna _kill_ you!"

"Yeah … well … this thing will probably get there first!" she gestured towards her bump and Mo rolled her eyes.

"Thing?"

"Right now yeah – no baby … can cause _this much_ fucking –" she yelled out and almost fell off her perch; Mo caught her and resigned herself to the care of the surgeon until Jonny came alone to suffer through the birth, as was his duty since he was the father and the one who'd gotten her into this mess in the first place.

Fifteen minutes later the door opened and Jonny almost fell into the room. "Have I missed it?"

"Yeah … like it'd be that easy … oh fuck!"

"You're turn," Mo smirked and Jonny paled as Jac grabbed his arms and let her head fall against his chest. He winced and Mo felt for Jac because she knew _exactly_ what she was going through – and Jonny would be useless, "Where's Mr T?"

"Talking to the midwife, why?"

"Oh wait here – keep her moving Jonny!"

"Huh?"

"Just do it!" Mo wrenched open the door and found the midwife chatting with Mr T as if Jac wasn't in labour. "Oh c'mon … not only is she in labour – she's got endometriosis so you can't assume things are gonna go smoothly without you there!"

"Tit for tact … returning a favour are you? She was a lot like this when it was you."

"She's a mate, okay? And she's pregnant with my best friend's kid … yeah maybe I'm returning a favour, but can we discuss it _after_?" watching the two enter the room, Mo settled down on the chair outside the room, not about to leave and risk Mr T and the slippery midwife disappearing off and something going wrong.

Well it was only a matter of time before Jac chucked Jonny out of the room; Mo suspected he'd be yo-yoing in and out while Jac wanted him and didn't want him in there with her. Five minutes after she'd settled down outside the room, Sacha came hurtling into maternity with Daniel perched on his shoulders. "You're as bad – maybe worse – than Jonny Mac!"

He slumped down on the chair beside Mo and Daniel launched himself at Mo, wrapping his little arms round her neck and kissing her face. He opened his face to speak when the door opened and Mr T left with the midwife promising that Jac was one of their top priorities – meaning that they were going to check up on her regularly.

"Jac's thrown me out …"

"Already?"

He nodded and Mo rolled her eyes and got to her feet, "Fine. When she calls you back in, _please_ just hold her hand and tell her she's doing good."

"What? You're willingly going in there?" Sacha and Jonny – and even Daniel – looked at her as if she was on something.

"Yes … see you on the other side."


	21. Chapter 21

Jonny was pacing up and down outside the room while Sacha sat on the plastic chairs laughing at how Daniel was marching proudly along beside the agitated Scott. The midwife and Mr T had left the room a few moments ago saying that it 'shouldn't be long now' but they'd been saying that for the past nine hours. "You really don't know how to stay still do you?"

"Nope. Can't stand staying still … careful!" he almost tripped over the little boy at his heels and Jonny handed him some changed and directed him to the vending machine just down the corridor before Sacha could protest. "What's taking so long?"

"Every birth is different my friend … sometimes a woman can be in labour for hours and hours with little happening."

Mo stuck her head through the door just then and ordered Jonny back into the room for the seventh time. Wondering if he could last longer than five minutes this time, Jonny walked past Mo and entered the room. "This your new look is it?"

"Get out!"

"What! No jokes. I promise!"

She muttered darkly to Mo and he was allowed to stay. She was sitting on the end of the bed with her feet resting on the metal frame and glaring at him as if to say this was all his fault. He took her hand and winced as she tried her hardest to stop the blood supply to his fingers and render them useless. "Where the hell are they?" Jac asked at one point, "I feel like I'm gonna explode … shiiiit oh fuck!"

Jonny placed his free hand on her back, supporting her as she concentrated on getting through the contraction. "Haven't you had any pain relief?"

"Can't … because of the – stupid … endomet – riosis …"

"Okay … okay …" Jonny hugged her as Mo wrenched open the door and yelled for some 'fucking assistance'. "I hope Daniel didn't hear that," Jonny muttered to Jac and he was pleased to see her smile slightly before she doubled over and started yelling again.

Then things started happening a bit _too_ quickly. The door was thrown open and the midwife stormed in – annoyed at Mo – followed by Mr T. She took one look at Jac and then paled, realising that Mo had been right in calling for help. Shunted to the back of the room, Jonny tried to make himself heard as the three of them bustled round Jac.

"Erm … what's happening? Jac … are you okay? Mo? Someone tell me what's happening!" Jonny's shouts were heard but ignored, which he thought was very rude indeed. Then he was grabbed by the midwife and shoved towards Jac while she, Mo and Mr T took his spot at the back of the room. "You okay?" he asked as she leant into him.

"Dunno … I'm seriously wondering why I went through with this …"

"That bad?"

"You wouldn't cope."

"And you are?"

"Shut up!" sensing he was in danger of being thrown out again, Jonny shut up and agreed with her by kissing her hair and rubbing her back. Mr T approached the bed while the midwife called for more help and Mo decided to escape the room with the labouring Jac Naylor.

"How is she?" Sacha asked as Mo slumped down beside him.

"Well, she's ten centimetres so … good luck Jonny Mac!" Mo grinned and Sacha placed his arm around her while Daniel played on his phone, chocolate smeared round his face.

"Indeed; good luck Jonny! She threatened to drag me in there with her at one point!"

"Well consider yourself lucky …"

"I am, trust me!" Sacha joked and their laughter was cut off when they heard Jac swearing profusely through the closed door – something about 'keep your hands to yourself!' – and it made the two chuckle outside as Daniel looked round confused.

"Why is auntie Jac saying naughty words?" he asked.

"Well you can tell her off when we go in, okay?" Sacha told him with a smile.

"But … why is she saying them?"

"Er … well … erm …" Sacha glanced hopefully at Mo who rolled her eyes.

"Okay. Daniel. You know that auntie Jac has a baby in her tummy yeah?" it had taken her about four hours to explain it to the little boy, who was _very _confused and had originally thought that auntie Jac had eaten a baby.

"Yeah … she and uncle Jonny did a lot of kissing and then she had a baby in her tummy."

"That's right …" this was seriously twisted but also hilarious. Daniel was too young for Mo to shatter his innocence as to what _really_ happened. "Well, the baby is all grown now so … so it's time to come out and … so the midwife and Mr T – and uncle Jonny – are … um … well they are trying to help the baby come out of her tummy and … um …"

"How?"

"Huh?"

"How?"

Mo spluttered. _How?_ Seriously, did this kid want her to scar him for life? "Er … I'm sure auntie Jac will tell you when you're older." Yeah, like he would be satisfied with that answer, "okay … here why don't you play on this? Yeah?" She handed him her phone – a trick she'd learnt from Jac – and sighed in relief as the distraction worked. Sacha was laughing into her shoulder, tears streaming from his eyes at the thought of Jac's expression when she learnt about the little conversation between Mo and Daniel. "Shut up!"

"They really need to make these chairs more comfortable," Sacha muttered tiredly sometime later.

"I'll put a note into Hanssen about it in the morning." Mo replied sleepily as Daniel 'ssshhh'ed them and then settled down into his daddy's arms.

"Sound's good."

It was perhaps a bit unfair that the pair sleeping on the plastic chairs were doing so while their bestfriends were struggling inside the room to persuade their child to enter the world and join them. It was pretty clear that this child was theirs – being so bloody difficult and all that.

"Okay … I can see the head – just … another push on the next contraction!"

"Only just?" Jac demanded, and Jonny was of the same opinion as Jac with that.

"Every woman is different … can't compare yourself to your friend – annnnd push!"

"_I am pushing!_" Jac hissed.

"C'mon Jac … bit harder?" Jonny encouraged.

"You try it!"

"I'd not be as good as you are … c'mon …"

"Why did I agree to this?"

"Technically, we didn't …"

"Do you want me to chuck you out?"

"Keep pushing!" Mr T ordered and Jac didn't really have a choice in the matter since the baby had _finally_ decided to comply and leave the safety of her womb.

Things were a little hazy for Jac as she complied with her body's command and it wasn't until she heard the cry that she realised it was over. "What … what – what?"

"You did it! Jeeze you did it!"

"Yeah …" Jac slumped back – exhausted – on the bed as she listened to the cries of her baby. Jonny kissed her forehead and made some inappropriate remark about the fact that she was covered in sweat.

"It's a girl," the midwife told them, handing her directly to Jac – it seemed to her that now the birth was over, Jonny was surplus to requirements – and muttering on about some random shit.

"A wee lass?" Jonny questioned.

"A _girl_ yes," Mr T told him.

"That's what I said … oh where's Mo!" Jonny wrenched open the door to stop dead at the sight; stepping back so that Jac could see what their best mates had gotten up to.

"Oh that's fantastic!" Jac snapped, waking the pair, "having a nice little nap were we?"


	22. Chapter 22

Luckily for Mo and Sacha – and Daniel – the midwife shooed them away while she and Mr T checked Jac and the baby over; this mean that they had time to come up with a good enough excuse as to why they were sleeping. The down side was they had to drag a rather 'what just happened?' Jonny with them. "A girl … a wee baby girl?" he kept repeating in between shock and pride.

"Yes, yes you have a daughter. We get it! Now hurry up and chose your food!"

By the time they arrived back on maternity the entire hospital had found out that Jac had given birth. Jonny's face fell as he saw the pile of people waiting outside the room Jac was in, all arguing over who should knock. They descended upon Jonny and he fobbed them off onto Sacha and Mo while he edged through the crowd and slipped into the room.

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's like the Third World War out there."

"What'd you mean?"

"Everybody knows … word must've gotten out. Don't worry I left them in the hands of Mo and Sacha."

"And that's a good thing? What if they fall asleep on the job again?"

Jonny chuckled, dumping the bag of food Mo had made him carry onto the seat before sitting on the very edge of the bed and peering nervously at the bundle in Jac's arms. She was asleep – seemingly content for now – nestled up to her mother and she radiated nothing other than innocence. How long that would last Jonny wasn't sure because he had a feeling she was going to be a right little madam at times.

"She's perfect," Jac whispered and Jonny looked up, grinning.

"You both are."

"What have I told you about chatting those clichéd lines to me?"

He kissed her, "Well the occasion demanded it from me."

"Sure it did."

"What did the midwife say?"

Jac gave him an amused smile, "Are you sure you'd understand it all or were you just asking because you feel you ought to?"

"Well … fine, tell me what I need to know then."

"She's absolutely fine."

"She's got the correct number of toes and everything? I mean I did warn ya didn't I? About the wee Maconie curse of children being born with only seven toes."

"Har har."

"I'm serious!"

"Shut up Jonny and hold her while I go pee."

"Oh because I really wanted to know _what_ you were gonna do in there." Jonny held his daughter as if she were the most valuable and precious thing in the whole world – which she was – and watched as Jac hobbled over to the bathroom and shut the door with a snap. When Jac returned she lingered in the doorway as she watched Jonny marvelling over what he'd help create. "Now I betcha you're gonna be a wee bit of a hand full for your mum an' me, aren't cha? But I'll tell you a wee secret, okay? Just between us; I wouldn't expect any less of ya." He looked up and spotted Jac. "Now … when it comes to boys then there is going to be none of this messing about nonsense alright?"

"What? You going to insist on the whole 'no sex before marriage' thing are you? Because if you are then we're going to have a lot of explaining to do …"

Jonny chuckled as Jac settled back on the bed, "I was actually going to tell her that she is going to join a convent and therefore never have to worry about us troublesome fellas."

"I love you."

"Why because I said our daughter will become a nun?"

"Oh shut up!" reclaiming their daughter from him, Jac stroked her face and Jonny watched her heart melt for the child – not literally, but he knew that their daughter now came above anything else Jac did. "She can be whoever she wants … however, should she enter the medical profession then I shall strongly advise her to aim for a doctor rather than a nurse."

"What's wrong with being a nurse? I do it."

"She's going to help me knock stereotypes on the head."

"Will she now?"

"Yep, she will." Jonny settled back against the end of the bed, watching _his girls_ with a great big foolish grin plastered across his face. "And both Mo _and_ Serena will agree with me there – so will Gemma too for that matter."

"I'm going to be dragged into all this feminist crap aren't I?"

"Take that back or we are over."

Jonny laughed and held his hands up in mock surrender, "okay, okay I take it back … I have no issues with feminism … now," he reached over and grabbed Mo's bag of food; "Mo and Sacha foolishly gave me this to carry, so … what'd ya want?"

Jac watched as he rummaged through the bag as the door opened. Mo and Sacha edged into the room with Daniel clinging onto his daddy's back. Jonny froze as his best mate caught him in the act of searching through her food. "Oi. Jonny Mac. You didn't want anything, remember?"

"You were sleeping while we were baby delivering," he countered as she snatched the bag from under his nose.

"Auntie Jac …"

"Daniel."

"You said a lot of naughty words." The little boy was stood level with the head of the bed and had a rather serious expression on his innocent face.

"Did you hear all that?" he nodded once but then his attention was caught immediately by the baby in Jac's arms and he ignored her apology.

"Is that the baby that was in your tummy auntie Jac?"

"Uh huh."

"How did you get it out?"

"Erm …" Jac looked round helplessly but found that the pair responsible for the boy were busy fighting over the contents of the plastic bag along with the father of her child. "Well that's not important …" she beckoned the little boy over and he climbed awkwardly up onto the bed before shuffling over towards Jac and peering cautiously down into the little girl's face.

"What is it? A boy?"

"No, she's a girl." Daniel didn't seemed to impressed – probably because he figured he couldn't play with her.

"Oh … what's she called?"

"We haven't named her yet."

"Why not?"

Was there no end to this boy's questions? "Because we haven't thought of a good name yet."

"Okay … she's looking at me!" he squealed excitedly and making the baby jump. Immediately she started wailing.

Jac cradled the baby close, and grinned at Daniel. "It's okay … hay – you're the first person she saw!" This seemed to please Daniel and he hurried over to his daddy to relay the news while Jonny asked him, very seriously, if he was going to marry her when they were grown up.

Daniel thought about it hard for a long moment, "If she's pretty I will."

"Oh, she'll be pretty Daniel, m'wee lad … just like your auntie Jac is, huh?"

He thought about it some more and then said, "Okay uncle Jonny, I'll marry her," before demanding his sweets off Mo.

"Erm, Sacha … could we have that in writing?" Jac asked with a smirk.


End file.
